LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf cbll^... 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A SHORT 



HISTORY OF MEXICO 



BY 



1/ 



ARTHUR HOWARD NOLL 




CHICAGO 

A. C. McCLURG AND COMPANY 

1890 



Copyright 

By a. C. McClurg and Co. 

A. D. 1890 



<?-*/?// 



TO 



WILSON W. BLAKE, A.M. 



OF 



T/zz's book is dedicated in gratitude for assistaftce 

rendered to the author in his study of the 

History of Mexico. 



PREFACE. 



' I ^HE history of Mexico, subsequent to the 
•^ conquest by the Spaniards early in the 
sixteenth century, is scarcely known outside 
of that country. General histories pass over 
the three centuries of Spanish rule, the long 
struggle for independence, the establishment 
of a short-lived empire followed by a nominal 
republic, and the rise and fall of a second 
empire, as subjects of but little interest, and 
without giving very accurate information re- 
garding them. If any comprehensive history 
of Mexico exists in the English language, its 
name fails to appear in any of the long lists 
of books on Mexico which the present writer 
has diligently searched. 

This brief history was prepared with the 
writer's own needs in view. Having accom- 



vi Preface. 

plished what he had vainly hoped to find 
accomplished for him, he at first thought of 
offering his work to the tourists in Mexico 
to aid them in enjoying the sights of that 
country. This idea was abandoned after the 
manuscript was in the hands of the publish- 
ers, in deference to the opinions of others 
that the book would be beneficial to the public 
generally, — no less in need of such a history 
than the tourist. 

The sources whence the information con- 
tained in the book is derived are so many and 
various that it would be a waste of space to 
enumerate them. The collation of material 
was made principally during a residence of 
eighteen months in the Mexican capital. It 
consists of Mexican books, large and small, 
new and old, as well as pamphlets and other 
documents in Spanish, relating to the different 
events hereafter related. The writer would 
acknowledge his especial indebtedness to two 
American authors : Mr. A. F. Bandelier, 
whose works on the ancient Mexicans are 
destined to modify all our notions about the 



Preface. vii 

Aztec civilization J and Mr. Thomas A. Jan- 
vier, v^^hose admirable Guide Book (edition of 
1889) contains much local historical informa- 
tion by which many of the statements in this 
book have been verified. 



A. H. N. 



Port Gibson, Mississippi, 
March, 1890. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Page 

Aboriginal Mexico. — The Development 
OF Tenochtitlan and the Aztec Con- 
federacy 13 



CHAPTER n. 
"The Conquest of Mexico" ...... 47 

CHAPTER ni. 

Military Governors and Ecclesiastics . T>> 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Viceroys of the Sixteenth and Sev- 
enteenth Centuries, and the Inquisi- 
tion 95 



X Contents. 

CHAPTER V. 

Page 
The Viceroys of the Eighteenth Cent- 
ury 125 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Last Viceroys, and Their Struggles 
FOR Independence 142 



CHAPTER Vn. 

The Treaty of Cordoba, The Regency, 
The Empire, The Poder Ejecutivo, and 
The Monroe Doctrine . 174 



CHAPTER Vni. 

The Early Days of The Republic, and 
The Revolt of Texas 188 



CHAPTER IX. 

More Presidents, More Revolutions, and 
THE War with the United States . . 217 



Contents, xi 

CHAPTER X. 

Page 

Still More Presidents, Anti-Presidents, 
AND THE War of " The Reform." . . . 236 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Foreign Intervention, the French 
Invasion, and the Rise of the Second 
Empire 254 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Fall of the Second Empire, and the 
Re-establishment of the Republic . . 268 



INDEX 289 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



CHAPTER I. 

Aboriginal Mexico. — The Development of 
Tenochtitlan and the Aztec Confederacy. 

The earliest authentic date in Mexican history. — Traditions of the 
Nahuatl families. — • Their wanderings, and reception in the 
Valley of Mexico. — Founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325. — True 
reason for selection of the site. — Earlier occupants of Mexican 
table-lands. — The Toltecs. — Discovery of Pulque. — The Chi- 
chimecas. — The Tecpanecas. — The Culhuas. — Exaggerations 
by Spanish historians. — Tlatelolco. — Treaty between the Az- 
tecs and Tecpanecas. — The Otomites, Tarascos, and Zapotecas, 
and the survival of their languages. — The government of Te- 
nochtitlan. — The Tlaca-tecuhtli and his office. — Acamapichtli. 

— Huitzilihuitl. — Chimalpopoca. — Izcohualt. — Overthrow of 
the Tecpanecas. — Formation of a Military Confederacy. — Mo- 
teczuma I. — Axayacatl the Terrible. — Overthrow of Tlatelolco. 

— Tizoc. — Ahuizotl, the Cruel. — Moteczuma II. — The Tlax- 
calans. — Advent of Europeans. — Description of Tenochtitlan 
in 1 5 19. — The Four Wards. — The insulation of the Pueblo. — 
The Causeways, Teocallis, Tecpanes, and other buildings. — 
Aztec civilization. 

THE earliest authentic date in the history 
of Mexico is 1325, — generally accepted 
as the year in which the Mexicans, or Aztecs, 
ended their wanderings about the shores of 
Lake Texcoco, and settled upon the site of 
what was afterwards Tenochtitlan, and is now 



14 A Short History of Mexico. 

the City of Mexico. Traditions and myths 
are sadly mixed up with the realities of these 
events, ras-we- shall liereafter see; but the 
best authorities agree in accepting that ye^ar 
as the beginning of Mexican history, and 
relegating all accounts of the previofls occu- 
pants of the Mexican Valley to the realm of 
archaeology. ^*fSuch accounts can therefore 
claim no serious attention from the present 
writer, whose purpose it is to relate only 
what is actually known of the history of 
Mexico. Archaeology is no proper pursuit 
for the hurrying traveller in Mexico. Re- 
serving that for leisure hours at home, he will 
find plenty of books from which to gather 
the conflicting theories held by different men 
as to who were and whence came the Mayas, 
the Qquiches, the Toltecs, and the Chichi- 
mecas; who built the cities whose ruins are 
the occasion of so much wonder to the trav- 
ellers in Yucatan, — cities said to have been 
overgrown with dense forests before the Span- 
ish conquest, — or who built Mitla, the ruined 
city in the State of Oaxaca ; and by whom 
and for what purpose the so-called '' pyra- 
mids " of San Juan Teotihuacan were erected, 
or the similar mound in Cholula. 

The seven families of Nahuatlacas who 



Nahnatl Traditions. 15 

arrived in the lake region of the Mexican 
Valley in the beginning of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, whom we call Aztecs, or Mexicans, and 
of whose subsequent movements we have to 
some extent, authentic records, brought with 
them certain traditions which are partially 
corroborated by the researches of archaeolo- 
gists. From these traditions it would appear 
that they had originated in a country unknown 
save by the name Aztlan (and that merely 
means "the place of the Aztecs"), and indef- 
initely located " somewhere north of the Gulf 
of CaHfornia," perhaps m the locality where 
are found the remarkable Cliff houses of 
Colorado and New Mexico. They began 
their southerly march about the middle of 
the twelfth century, and stopped for a time 
in what is now Arizona of the United States, 
leaving there certain monuments. The ruins 
of Casas Grandes attest that they made that a 
stopping-place also. Again they settled in a 
country known as Culhuacan, and it is there 
that they appear to have formulated their re- 
ligion, adopting as their god of war Huitzilo- 
pochtli. That being the name of one of the 
Chichimecan rulers of that century suggests 
the possibility of their having made a tribal 
hero do duty as a tribal deity. Huitzilopo- 



1 6 A Short History of Mexico. 

chtli furnished the nucleus for the subsequent 
development of the Aztec mythology. 

It was under the leadership of their war 
god that the Aztecs proceeded on their way 
from Culhuacan, ' leaving signs of another 
resting-place in what is known as the " Que- 
mada," about twenty miles south of Zaca- 
tecas. At the end of nine years they left 
the Quemada, and by a very circuitous jour- 
ney reached the mountain regions of Toluca, 
and finally arrived in Tula in 1196. Twenty 
years later they arrived at Zumpango, thirty 
miles north of the site of their future capital. 
They were well received by the chief of Zum- 
pango (called by Spanish writers, in their 
fondness for conferring high-sounding titles 
upon the chiefs of these early tribes, *'the 
Lord of Zumpango"), and a marriage was 
arranged between his son and a daughter of 
one of the Mexican families to whom the 
Spanish writers (conceiving that the Mexi- 
cans had already attained to the dignity of 
an hereditary government, instead of being a 
mere roving band) give the dignified title of 
" Aztec princess." It was from this marriage 
that the military chiefs of the Mexicans in 
the succeeding century were descended. 

The wanderings of the Mexicans were re- 



Founding of Tenochtitlan, 17 

newed, and seven years later they passed by 
way of Tezoyocan and Tolpetas to Tepeyacac 
(Guadalupe-Hidalgo), then on the north- 
western shores of Lake Texcoco. After 
twenty-nine years of occupancy of this local- 
ity they were driven out by the Chichimecas, 
— a powerful tribe already established in the 
Valley of Mexico, speaking a language dif- 
fering dialectically only from that spoken 
by the Mexicans. They fled to the rocky 
promontory of Chapultepec looking down 
upon the waters of Texcoco. Sixteen years 
later they sought refuge in a group of islands 
in the western extremity of Lake Acocolco 
(Aculco), where they eked out a miserable 
existence for fifty-two years. The Culhuacas 
made them slaves ; but because of assistance 
rendered to their masters in the wars be- 
tween the Culhuacas and the Xochimilcas, 
they were enabled to regain their liberty, 
and collected themselves together at Huit- 
zilopocho (Churubusco), and went to Mexi- 
calzingo and Ixtacalco. It was after two 
years that they proceeded to the selection 
of a permanent home and the foundation 
of a city which was to be the scene of their 
subsequent development. 

In the marshy islands near the western 

2 



1 8 A Short History of Mexico, 

borders of Lake Texcoco, representatives of 
the poor tribe of Mexicans, wandering about 
in search of a place of rest, saw an eagle 
standing upon a nopal (prickly-pear cactus) 
strangling a serpent.^ This was received as 
a sign that the gods had selected that spot 
for their future home. Accordingly there 
was established upon that spot, in the year 
1325, the nucleus of the city of Tenochtitlan ; 
that is, " the place of the Temich,'' or nopal. 
The name by which their city was subse- 
quently called, and by which its successor 
is now known, was derived from Mextli, 
which either means the moon, or was another 
name given to Huitzilopochtli. 
^Although this legend of the foundation of 
Tenochtitlan has been so generally accepted 
as to give to Mexico a design for its es- 
cutcheon, — representing the eagle, the ser- 
pent, and the nopal, — yet there is a far more 
plausible explanation given for the selection 
by the Mexicans of such an unpromising 
site for their local habitation as the marshy 
islands of the lake borders. Upon entering 

1 It is said that the fountain bearing this device in 
bronze standing in the Plaza de Santo Domingo marks the 
exact spot of this apparition. But why was not this spot 
marked by the great teocalli of Tenochtitlan? 



Advantages of the Site. 19 

the lake region of the Valley of Mexico, they 
found four tribes already settled there, — the 
Aculhuas or Texcocans, the Tecpanecas, the 
Xochimilcas, and the Chalcas. The present 
towns of Texcoco, Xochimilco, and Chalco 
mark the sites occupied by three of these 
tribes. ThtrsttF~occupred by the Tecpanecas 
was on the western borders of Lake Texcoco, 
where now stands Atzcapotzalco. These 
tribes all spoke the Nahuatl language, — the 
language of the Mexicans, — with only dialec- 
tic differences. It became necessary for the 
newcomers — the Aztecs — to select a place 
for their home, not only offering them at least 
a scanty means of subsistence, but also capa- 
ble of ready defence from the inroads of 
their neighbors, under their system of war- 
fare. This was afterwards demonstrated as 
their city grew and causeways were con- 
structed, — at first glance intended only to 
afford them a ready means of reaching the 
mainland, but upon closer study really de- 
signed to place their city at a greater distance 
from the mainland. For these causeways 
acted as dams, and deepened the waters of 
the lake west of the city, — more especially 
in the direction of their nearest neighbors, 
^e.. Tecpanecas of Atzcapotzalco. 



20 A Short History of Mexico. 

\ 

Having thus followed the Aztecs through 
their traditional wanderings, and arrived with 
them dt the point marking the beginning of 
their history, there are certain attempts to 
account for the earlier occupants of the high 
tablelands of Mexico which cannot be wholly 
ignored, though none of them can with safety 
be set down as matters pf sober history. That 
which treats of the Toltecs furnishes as a be- 
ginning-point the suspiciously early date of 
720, and supplies us with the unpronounce- 
able names of a succession of nine rulers, 
and an account of the destruction of the 
''monarchy" in 1 103. A succession of nine 
rulers, occupying the throne on an average 
more than forty-two years each, and alto- 
gether nearly four hundred years, bears prima 
facie the impress of improbability. The site 
and ruins of the capital of this so-called 
*' monarchy " still remain at Tula, or as it 
was anciently called, ToUan, fifty miles north 
of the city of Mexico, on the present line of 
the Mexican Central railway. The tribe 
had risen out of the densest obscurity one 
hundred and thirty years previously, and had 
spent that length of time in wanderings, — 
remaining long enough in one locality, fifty- 
nine miles northeast of the Mexican capital, 



The Toltecs. 21 

to bestow upon it the name of Tollantzingo 
(Tulancingo), the place of the Toltecs. The 
name Toltecs signifies, according to some, 
" the builders," and suggests that the title 
may have been conferred posthumously — so 
to speak — upon the race by their successors, 
when the latter came to see the remains of 
the buildings left by their antecedents. 

One notable event in the history of the 
Toltecs seems well authenticated and is de- 
serving of mention here. It is the discovery 
or invention of pulqtie in the " reign " of the 
eighth Toltec chief, Tepancaltzin, during the 
latter half of the eleventh century. Xochitl, 
the daughter of Papantzin, was the discoverer, 
and upon being presented by her father be- 
fore the chief of her tribe, who was not more 
delighted with the beverage than with the 
beauty of the discoverer, she was elevated at 
once to a place in his household. To one 
who knows Mexico and what a hold this 
beverage (the juice of the 7naguey^ Mexican 
aloe, or agave Americana^ in a certain stage 
of fermentation) has had upon the affec- 
tions of the people for eight centuries, it will 
occasion no surprise to learn that to this 
event is accorded a permanent place in his- 
tory, while the details of the rebellion where- 



22 A Short History of Mexico. 

in Tepancaltzin and his " queen" were killed, 
and the Toltec government was overthrown 
in 1 103, have been allowed to sink into ob- 
livion. From 1 103, although Topiltzin, prob- 
ably the leader of the rebellion, succeeded 
to the chieftaincy, anarchy seems to have 
prevailed in Tula, until the fair land of the 
Toltecs was nearly depopulated by famines, 
plagues, and wars, and the few survivors emi- 
grated to Yucatan or Guatemala, leaving be- 
hind them in Tula monuments to mark them 
as a race well advanced in civilization. 

The Chichimecas (*' eagles," as their name 
signifies, according to one of many etymolo- 
gies suggested), were the successors of the 
Toltecs. They were far less advanced in 
civilization, and came from Amaquemecan 
(Amecameca), at the foot of the two famous 
mountains Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl. 
An effort has been made on the part of some 
historians to give to the Chichimecas the 
earliest place in history, and to establish them 
in the " kingdom of Huehuetlapallan " with 
a long line of " kings," the thirteenth of 
whom, Icoatzin, established the Toltec gov- 
ernment by placing his second son, Chalchi- 
uhtlanctzin, in the chieftaincy in the year 720, 
thus making the Toltec " dynasty " subservi- 



The Chichimecas. 23 

ent to that of the Chichimecas. But the lo- 
cation of the "kingdom of Huehuetlapallan " 
cannot be identified, and the events attri- 
buted to that " kingdom " would carry it 
back 1,796 years before the Christian era, 
and are not even to be regarded as traditions, 
but are reduced to the character of myths. 
No reliance is to be placed upon the ac- 
counts of the Chichimecas prior to their set- 
thng upon the lands left unoccupied by the 
departure of the Toltecs from Tula. From 
Tula they wandered off, first to Cempoalla 
and Tepepolco, and finally reached Tenayu- 
can (Texcoco) on the east side of the lake 
Texcoco, where they established themselves 
and elected a ruler, Xolotl the Great (or, as 
his name signifies, *' the sharp eyed or vigi- 
lant person "). He is said to have attained 
to the chieftaincy in 1120. A succession of 
four chiefs in Tenayucan carries the history 
of the Chichimecas down to the time of the 
settlement of the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan ; but 
as one hundred and twelve years are given as 
the length of the reign of Xolotl the Great, 
faith in this history is greatly weakened. 

It was by Xolotl the Great that the colony 
of Tecpanecas was established at Atzcapot- 
zalco. It was composed of a tribe or family 



24 A Short History of Mexico. 

of Aculhuas, to the two principal ''chiefs" of 
which he gave his two daughters in marriage. 
This colony was organized, according to the 
best accounts, in ii 68, and either elected a 
chief or at least accepted one of Xolotl's 
appointment. 

Still another tribe was settled in the lake 
region, and is accounted for as follows : It 
was composed of survivors of the Toltecs 
upon the overthrow of Tula in 1103, who re- 
ceived the name of Culhuas. The place of 
their settlement still bears the name of Cul- 
huacan. This tribe was destined to play a 
prominent part in the history of the Aztecs. 
The first in its line of ten chiefs dated his 
" reign " from 1 109. 

In the most reckless manner the Spanish 
writers have employed such terms as " em- 
pire," '' kingdom," " king," " queen," " lord," 
and " prince," in their attempts to write 
the history of ancient Mexico. When any 
one comes to identify the sites of these 
"empires" and ''kingdoms," and finds them 
not only completely surrounded by the moun- 
tains which enclose the valley of Mexico, but 
all bordering upon the marshy shores of a 
lake scarcely more than fifteen miles in di- 
ameter, he sees how little reliance is to be 



Tlatelolco Founded, 25 

placed upon the many accounts given of the 
occupants of the Mexican Valley, prior to the 
fourteenth century, — accounts which have 
been partially harmonized above. Destruc- 
tive as such a course must be of much of the 
romantic interest attaching to the early his- 
tory of Mexico, it is much safer to regard the 
occupants of the Mexican Valley as petty 
tribes, probably all of Nahuatl stock, settled 
m pueblos or villages so disposed as to afford 
means of pursuing horticulture, as well as to 
protect the inhabitants from the incursions of 
their neighbors. Their political rulers were 
doubtless no more than caciques, more proba- 
bly the heads of families. As the house of 
lumber built by the Toltecs at ToUantzingo 
was " large enough to accommodate the en- 
tire nation," it is not likely that the entire 
nation at ToUantzingo included more than a 
few families. So it was, probably, with the 
Aztecs and their neighbors, and setting out 
with this in our minds we shall more clearly 
comprehend what follows in the history of 
the Aztecs. 

It was about thirteen years after the settle- 
ment of Tenochtitlan by the seven Nahuatl 
families that a petty quarrel that had broken 
out during the previous wanderings of those 



26 A Short History of Mexico. 

families bore fruit in a schism, and one of 
the famihes estabHshed itself at Tlatelolco, 
while another faction removed to Chapulte- 
pec. We find Spanish authors treating these 
factions as separate and hostile *' kingdoms." 
But Tlatelolco was separated from Tenoch- 
titlan by a narrow canal only, and enjoyed, 
in com.mon with Tenochtltlan, Isolation from 
the mainland ; and Chapultepec was distant 
only a league from either pueblo, so that 
there was scant room for hostilities between 
rival " kingdoms ; " and we must reserve for 
some time our judgment regarding the power 
or government of any of these families or 
tribes until the Aztecs, first by confederation 
and afterwards by victorious arms, gained an 
actual ascendency in the Mexican Valley. 

For a long time the Mexicans of Tenoch- 
tltlan subsisted on fish, birds, and such wild 
vegetables as the marshy borders of the lake 
afforded. But with the increase of popula- 
tion a need of other commodities grew up. 
To supply this demand they approached the 
Tecpanecas for the purpose of securing com- 
mercial relations with them, and also to se- 
cure the use of one of the springs on the 
mainland. The desired concessions were, 
made by the Tecpanecas, but on the condi- 



Other Aborigines. 2y 

tion that the Mexicans should pay tribute to 
them. An inscription upon the aqueduct 
that now brings the waters from the great 
spring at Chapultepec to the fountain known 
as Salto del Agita in the southwestern part 
of the present city of Mexico, refers to this 
pecuHar relation of the Aztecs and the Tec- 
panecas, though in language far from accu- 
rate. It states that — 

*' The course of this aqueduct is that of the aque- 
duct made by the Aztecs in the reign of Chimal- 
popoca, who was granted the right to the water of 
Chapultepec by the King of Atzcapotzalco, to whom 
the Aztecs were tributary until the reign of Izco- 
hualt (1422-33, A. D.), when they secured their 
independence." 

Besides the tribes which have been men- 
tioned there were others scattered through- 
out the lands beyond the mountains, shutting 
in the Mexican Valley. As to the origin of 
these it would be useless so much as to haz- 
ard a guess. The Otomites, " distinguished 
for their barbarity," occupied the mountains 
of Ixmiquilpan. The Tarascos, or Michoa- 
cans, occupied a locality distinctly marked by 
a State name still preserved, their capital 
being Tzintzuntzan, on the shores of Lake 



28 A Short History of Mexico. 

Patzcuaro. The Zapotecas still occupy their 
ancient seat in the mountains of Oaxaca, and 
have furnished in the present century one of 
the greatest characters^n Mexican history. 

It must not be supposed that all lingual 
traces of the occupants of Mexico in the four- 
teenth century have disappeared. Even in the 
streets of the capital some of the languages 
then spoken may now be heard. There 
are nearly two millions of people in the 
country who speak the Aztec or Mexican 
language proper; there are two thirds of a 
million who speak the Othomi. The Maya- 
Qquiche is spoken in Yucatan and parts 
adjacent by about four hundred thousand 
persons, the Zapoteca in Oaxaca by half a 
million, and the Tarascan by a quarter of a 
million in the State of Michoacan. Other 
languages and dialects are in use, and the 
whole number of Mexicans speaking native 
languages (some of them speaking the Span- 
ish also) is very nearly four millions. To 
the Aztec language the more accurate term 
^^ NahuatV is sometimes applied. Geograph- 
ical names derived from these ancient lan- 
guages are aids in establishing some of the 
facts in the obscure periods of Mexican his- 
tory. " Cingo " and " an " or " Ian " are 



The Tlaca-tecuhtli. 29 

characteristic terminations in the Nahuatl 
language, signifying ** place." It is generally 
safe to refer localities bearing names with 
either of those terminations to the period of 
the Nahuatl occupancy. 

The seven Nahuatl families who composed 
the settlement at Tenochtitlan were reduced, 
as we have seen, to five, by the defection of 
the colonists of Tlatelolco and Chapultepec.^ 
Although the names of two *' kings of Az- 
teca " have been furnished us by Spanish 
writers, prior to the year 1375, it is by no 
means likely that these so-called " kings " 
were more than great warriors, if indeed they 
were more than heads of families, or caciques. 
And it was in the year above-named that the 
first approach to a governmental organization 
was effected in Tenochtitlan, and that was 
by means of the election, by popular vote, 
of a tlaca-tecuhtli, which means, literally, 
**chief-of-men." Acamapichtli ('* Handful- of- 
reeds "), the person selected for this impor- 
tant office, so far from being a king or an 
emperor, as he is distinctly named in some 

1 They were further reduced to four by some means not 
wholly known, — possibly by the withdrawal of the Chinam- 
panecas. the occupants of the Chinampas, or floating gardens. 



30 A Short History of Mexico, 

histories, or an autocrat or despot, as he has 
been generally represented to us, was simply 
the head war-chief of the Mexican tribe set- 
tled in Tenochtitlan, holding his office for life 
or good behavior. Upon his successors in 
office, a little over a century later, waien Mex- 
ico, at the head of a military confederacy 
composed of all the tribes of the Valley, was 
accustomed to levy tribute upon weaker tribes 
beyond the mountain wall, the further duty 
was imposed of collecting this tribute. But 
from the earliest times any tendency on the 
part of the Tlaca-tecuhtli towards assuming a 
political dictatorship was held in check by a 
civil coadjutor, his equal in rank, and whose 
office was also elective. The principal occu- 
pation of the Mexicans was war, and their 
government may be best described as a mili- 
tary democracy. There was no office or dig- 
nity connected with its internal polity that 
was hereditary. Every office was dependent 
upon popular vote, and that was influenced 
by the merit of the candidate on the field of 
battle. And even the Tlaca-tecuhtli and his 
civil coadjutor were subject to a still higher 
authority, — a " council-of-chiefs," of which 
they were, ex-officiOy members, and which'was 
the actual governing body of the Mexicans. 



Hiiitzilihuitl. 3 1 

During the twenty-eight years in which 
AcamapichtH held the office of '' chief-of- 
men" the population of Tenochtitlan in- 
creased and the condition of the pueblo was 
materially improved. Canals took the place 
of the irregular water-courses hitherto sepa- 
rating the several islands selected as the site 
of Tenochtitlan, and the erection of stone 
buildings is said to have begun. Acama- 
pichtH was the descendant of the Aztec who 
married in Zumpango. He had two wives, to 
whom were born the next two " chiefs-of-men" 
elected by the people of Tenochtitlan. The 
first of these was HuitziHhuitl ('' Humming- 
bird "), elected in 1403, — four months after 
the death of his father. His marriage with 
the daughter of the chief of the Tecpanecas of 
Atzcapotzalco served to strengthen the com- 
mercial alliance between the Mexicans and 
the Tecpanecas. He also married a daugh- 
ter of a family of Quauhnuhuac (Cuerna- 
vaca). It has been stated that a system of 
jurisprudence grew up during the time of 
HuitziHhuitl. Upon his death, in 1414, he 
was buried at Chapultepec ('* the hiU of the 
grasshoppers," as its name signifies), — prob- 
ably the first warrior chief to find a resting- 
place in that historic ground, and to give to 



32 A Short History of Mexico, 

Chapultepec the name of ** the royal burial 
place of the Aztecs." He was succeeded in 
office by Chimalpopoca ('* Smoking Shield "), 
his brother. He died in 1427, a prisoner in 
the hands of the chiefs of the Tecpanecas and 
of Tenayucan. These two tribes had joined 
their arms against Tenochtitlan, — a breach of 
faith on the part of the Tecpanecas, for by the 
terms of their commercial treaty the Mexicans 
and the Tecpanecas were allied for their 
mutual protection in case of war. 

Izcohualt or Izcoatzin ("Obsidian-snake"), 
the son of Acamapichtli by a slave, was next 
elected tlaca-tecuhtli, and it was under his 
military leadership that the Mexicans over- 
threw the power of the Tecpanecas. For by 
this time the Mexicans had learned something 
of war, offensive as well as defensive, and be- 
sides wishing to punish the Tecpanecas for 
their treachery in taking up arms in collusion 
with Tenayucan against Tenochtitlan, they 
were anxious to free themselves from the bur- 
then of taxation imposed upon them by the 
Tecpanecas under the commercial treaty. 
Securing the assistance, therefore, of the Cul- 
huas, who had suffered oppression at the hands 
of the Tecpanecas, and were willing to enter 
into any plan for their destruction, Izcohualt 



The Confederacy. 33 

with his fighting-men overthrew the treacher- 
ous tribe, destroyed Atzcapotzalco (which 
was thenceforth made the slave market of 
Tenochtitlan), leaving a remnant of the tribe 
to settle at Tlacopan (a name now corrupted 
into Tacuba), thus giving rise to what has been 
considered the '* kingdom of Tlacopan," sup- 
planting the ^'kingdom of Atzcapotzalco." 
The local government of the Tecpanecas, es- 
tablished at Tlacopan was not disturbed, but 
they were made tributary to the Mexicans 
from whom they had before exacted tribute, 
and the Mexicans acquired unincumbered pos- 
session of the springs at Chapultepec, of which 
they had long had the use. The Mexicans 
furthermore controlled the military power of 
the conquered tribe. 

The temporary alliance between Tenoch- 
titlan and Culhuacan for the purposes of this 
war became a permanent military confeder- 
acy immediately afterwards, with the Mexi- 
cans as the leading power. The Tecpanecas, 
by the terms of the conquest, were a party 
to it. It was but natural that, a career of 
conquest being thus opened, and the power 
of the Mexicans having been strengthened 
by the federation of two other tribes, the 
effort should be made to extend it. The 

3 



34 A Short History of Mexico. 

Xochimilcas, the Chalcas, and the Chinam- 
panecas (the famiHes residing on the Chin- 
ampas, or floating gardens), were by a war 
wholly unprovoked on their part made to 
submit to the military control of Tenochtit- 
lan and pay tribute to the Mexicans. Where- 
upon one tribe only in the Mexican Valley 
remained hostile to the Mexicans, — the Ac- 
ulhuas of Tenayucan, — possibly their equals 
in military strength. These were brought 
into the confederacy by treaty, thus avoid- 
ing any loss of military strength to either 
which war would have involved. Tenoch- 
titlan maintained the military supremacy in 
this confederacy, probably because of the 
superiority of its defensive position, and thus 
the Tlaca-tecuhtli of Tenochtitlan became 
the chief warrior of the confederacy. The 
local governments of Tenayucan and Tlaco- 
pan remained undisturbed, for a time at least, 
the tribute derived from subsequently con- 
quered tribes being divided between the three 
confederated tribes in the following propor- 
tions, — significant of the relative impor- 
tance of the three pueblos : to Tenochtitlan 
and Tenayucan each two fifths ; to Tlacopan 
one fifth. 
, Izcohualt — who is probably entitled to 



Axayacatl. 35 

no more than a portion of the credit for this 
consohdation of the mihtary powers of the 
lake region of the Valley of Mexico equal 
with that of the other warrior legislators, but 
who nevertheless receives all of it in history 
by reason of the royal title conferred upon 
him by Spanish writers — died in 1436 at an 
advanced age. He was succeeded by Motec- 
zuma C Wrathy Chief") I., who was a son of 
Huitzilihuitl by his marriage with the daugh- 
ter of the Quauhnahuac chief. He is also 
called Ilhuicamina, " who-shoots-his-arrow- 
heavenward," according to some, — '* the scan- 
ner of the heavens," or " the star-gazer," ac- 
cording to others, — from which latter it is 
inferred that he added to his military skill the 
science of astrology. His election was the 
result of the distinction which he won in the 
wars with the Tecpanecas, the Xochimilcas, 
and the Chalcas. He died in 1464, and was 
succeeded in his office of " chief-of-men " by 
Axayacatl (*' Face-in-the-Water/') the Terri- 
ble, a nephew of Acamapichtli. It had by 
this time become customary upon the induc- 
tion of a new Tlaca-tecuhtli into office, to 
sacrifice captives obtained in war with neigh- 
boring tribes, and raids were accordingly 
made for that purpose immediately after the 



36 A Short History of Mexico. 

election. Moteczuma I. is recorded as hav- 
ing done this, and, following his example, 
Axayacatl descended upon the Pacific coast 
and penetrated the territories of the Tecuan- 
tepecas as far as Coatulco (Huatulco), a port 
frequented by Spanish ships the following 
century. He secured captives in Tochtepec 
and Huexotzinco, and levied tribute upon 
both of these pueblos. But the principal 
event of his military administration was. the 
overthrow of the pretensions of the pueblo 
of Tlatelolco. It had been reckoned, in the 
military confederacy, as part of Tenochtitlan. 
But in the year 1473 Moquihuix, the last 
war-chief of Tlatelolco, attempted to organ- 
ize a conspiracy to supplant Tenochtitlan 
and become, as it were, the capital of the 
confederacy. His wife was a relative of Ax- 
ayacatl and divulged his plans to the Chief- 
of-Men, and sought refuge with him from her 
husband's wrath. Moquihuix accomplished 
no more than the destruction of one of 
the temples of Tenochtitlan, and fell in the 
battle which ensued. The Tlatelolcans were 
terribly punished for their leader's temerity. 
The body of Moquihuix being brought to 
Axayacatl, he opened the breast, took out 
the heart and held it up in triumph, then 



Ahuizotl. 37 

OiTered it to the gods. The rights of sepa- 
rate government and of bearing arms were 
taken from the Tlatelolcans, and they were 
made cargadores (carriers of supplies) for the 
Mexicans. They were afterwards reHeved 
from some of the degrading terms of their 
punishment, and because of a demand for 
more warriors to carry on the campaigns of 
the Mexicans for obtaining captives, they 
were allowed to bear arms. 

Axayacatl the Terrible was succeeded in 
1477 by Tizoc (''Wounded Leg"), his brother, 
whose military administration was brief and 
obscure. One event stands out prominently 
in the meagre annals of his times, — the 
defeat of the Mexicans in their attempts to 
carry their arms into Michoacan. Tizoc was 
poisoned in i486, at the instigation of the 
war-chief of Ixtapalapan. His assassins were 
publicly executed in the great plaza of Te- 
nochtitlan, and he was succeeded by Ahuizotl 
("Water-rat"), another brother of Axayacatl, 
the first event of whose military administra- 
tion was the completion of the great temple 
begun in the time of his predecessor. The 
ceremonies of dedicating this new temple 
and of inducting the new '' chief-of-men " 



38 A Short History of Mexico. 

into office were attended with a barbaric 
splendor eclipsing anything preceding it. 
It is said that seventy-two thousand slaves, 
taken by him in war against rebellious sub- 
jects in Tlacopan, and in raids upon the Za- 
potecas and other tribes, were sacrificed. 
Hence it is that he is called " Ahuizotl, the 
Cruel," and his name is even now used in 
Mexico as a synonym for cruelty. 

It was in 1498 that Ahuizotl, deeming the 
waters of Lake Texcoco so low as to endan- 
ger the defences of Tenochtitlan, and also 
the free intercourse between that pueblo and 
Texcoco on the opposite shore, ordered the 
construction of an aqueduct that would refill 
the lake from the natural reservoirs in Cha- 
pultepec. He succeeded, not only in refill- 
ing the lake, but in inundating his city, — the 
floods rising even in his own bed-chamber 
and endangering his life; from which inci- 
dent it might seem that his name, " Water- 
rat," was prophetic. This is the opening 
page of a long chapter of struggles with 
water in the Mexican Valley, wherein the 
attempt has been made to reduce, rather 
than increase, the quantity of water. 

In 1502 Ahuizotl was succeeded by Mo- 



Moteczuma II. 39 

teczuma^ (''Wrathy Chief ") II., who was the 
son of Axayacatl the Terrible, and was a 
truly remarkable character, with whom we 
have much to do. He was thirty-four years 
of age, and has been by some described as 
reared to the sacerdotal life, and hence filled 
with superstitions not without their influence 
upon the subsequent history of his tribe. 
But such a statement seems incompatible 
with the recorded distinctions won for him- 
self in the wars conducted by his father. 
In the second year of his military adminis- 
tration he led the armies of Mexico-Tenoch- 
titlan upon a campaign against the Tlaxcalans 
to obtain captives for sacrifice at the dedica- 
tion of a new temple, built, or at least com- 
pleted, at that time. The Tlaxcalans (not 
composing a republic, as has frequently been 
stated, but a populous tribe occupying such 
an admirably defended position in the moun- 
tains east of Tenochtitlan as to maintain their 
immunity from the incursions of the Aztecs) 
defeated the Mexicans, and in the war the 
son of Moteczuma was slain. Moteczuma 

1 This name, variously spelled by the early Spanish 
writers, finally settled down as " Moctezuma," and has been 
anglicized " Montezuma." Later Mexican writers have 
adopted the orthography used in this book. 



40 A Short History of Mexico, 

succeeded, however, in leading his armies as 
far as Michoacan on the north and Nicaragua 
and Honduras on the south, and caused the 
Mexicans of Tenochtitlan to be feared every- 
where throughout the land. 

The Tlaca-tecuhtli of Tenochtitlan, though 
by no means an emperor or king, was the 
most prominent personage in the land, and 
the man of the greatest influence when the 
advent of the Europeans changed the entire 
aspect of affairs. In the year 15 17 Francisco 
Hernandez de Cordova discovered Yucatan, 
and the following year news was brought to 
the Chief-of-Men at Tenochtitlan of ships 
sailing along the Gulf coast, containing a 
different race of men from any before seen 
in Mexico. They comprised the exploring 
expedition of Juan de Grijalva, the Cuban 
navigator. While the public mind was ex- 
ercised over this sudden appearance of the 
white men, there were signs in the earth and 
in the sky which led the Aztecs, naturally 
superstitious as they were, to look forward 
to some dread calamity, some important 
crisis in the affairs of their race and govern- 
ment. There were hurricanes, earthquakes, 
and volcanic eruptions in the Valley of 
Mexico. A comet appeared in the heavens. 



Tenochtitlan in i^ig. 41 

There was an eclipse of the sun. The great 
temple in Tenochtitlan burned without any 
cause being ascertained. Ominous dreams 
afflicted the Tlaca-tecuhtli, and it is even 
soberly stated that one of his near relatives 
who had died returned from the grave to 
visit him. All these signs filled the Aztecs 
with uneasiness, and they could not avoid 
connecting these phenomena with the ex- 
traordinary appearance of the European 
ships. The uneasiness increased when in 
the following spring (15 19) a small army of 
Europeans landed upon the coast, directed 
their march toward Tenochtitlan, and began 
the series of events which together comprise 
that fascinating chapter in the history of the 
New World, known as The Conquest of 
Mexico. 

Before entering upon the history of the 
Conquest, it would be well to look at the city 
of Tenochtitlan, as it appeared to the Span- 
iards in the early part of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Nearly, two centuries of occupation 
by the Mexicans had wrought great changes 
in the marshy banks of Lake Texcoco, where 
they had taken up their permanent abode in 
1325. The poor pueblo of Tenochtitlan had 



42 A Short History of Mexico, 

become verily and indeed a city, comparable 

— according to the Spanish visitors — with 
the fairest European capital. The first set- 
tlement had undoubtedly consisted of four 
buildings, each capable of sheltering a large 
division of the tribe after the defection of the 
Tlatelolco and Chapultepec factions. The 
pueblo preserved up to the time of the con- 
quest four divisions, undoubtedly built up 
around and upon the four communal houses 
first erected, these divisions being known as 
Moyotlan, Teapan, Aztacalco, and Cuepapan, 

— probably meaning, respectively, " the place 
of the mosquito," *' the place of the god," 
"the place of the heron's house," and "the 
place of the dike," These four divisions 
were succeeded, upon the rebuilding of the 
city after the conquest, by the wards or par- 
ishes of San Pablo, San Juan, Santa Maria la 
Redonda, and San Sebastian. 

To the limited amount of ground first oc- 
cupied, more was added from time to time 
by filling in, and at the same time the waters 
were, as we have seen, deepened and broad- 
ened on all sides of the pueblo by means of 
the causeways, designed not so much to pro- 
vide means of access to the mainland as to 
isolate the pueblo and increase its defences. 



Causeways. 43 

The earliest built of these causeways was 
known as Acachananco, and was that run- 
ning south and connecting with the mainland 
at Huitzilopocho (Churubusco). From a 
point on this causeway named Xoloc (near 
what is now known as San Antonio Abad) 
another causeway ran to Cuyuacan. A 
causeway running nearly in direct continua- 
tion of the first connected the pueblo with 
the mainland at Tepeyacac (Guadalupe- 
Hidalgo) on the north, while the most 
famous as well as the shortest was that run- 
ning westerly, nearly at right angles to the 
other two and connecting Tenochtitlan with 
Tlacopan (Tacuba). Most probably this last- 
named causeway divided Moyotla from Tea- 
pan, while the other two causeways formed 
the dividing line between those two quarters 
and Aztacalco and Cuepapan. Each of these 
quarters contained a teocalli or temple, and 
at the meeting-place of the three, great cause- 
ways, and belonging equally to each of the 
four quarters, stood the great teocalli, pyra- 
midal in form, with its due apportionment of 
ground surrounded by its great wall of stone, 
— the coatapantliy or serpent wall. Tepeya- 
cac, Huitzilopocho, and Cuyuacan, the ter- 
mini of two of the causeways, as well as 



44 A Short History of Mexico. 

Ixtapalapan and Mexicalzingo, were mili- 
tary outposts, none of them containing much 
population. Chapultepec was a sacred spot. 
As we have seen, it furnished the fresh-water 
supply of Tenochtitlan, and was also used as 
a place of sepulture. Tlatelolco was the 
equivalent of a fifth ward of the city, though 
probably larger than any of the other four. 
The Chinampas produced the vegetables 
necessary for the subsistence of the popu- 
lation of Tenochtitlan, and the tributary 
pueblos far and near furnished the other 
necessaries of life and all that constituted 
the wealth of Mexico. 

The houses of Tenochtitlan were con- 
structed at first of reeds and bamboo, such 
as are now seen in some parts of Mexico, 
even as near the capital as the Chinampa 
pueblos of Santa Anita and Ixtacalco. Later 
turf and adobe (sun-dried brick) were used, 
and as we have seen, stone began to be used 
for buildings in the time of Acamapichtli. 
We learn from Peter Martyr, of the seven- 
teenth century, that the houses of the com- 
mon people were commodious, each being 
designed to shelter several families, — resi- 
dence by families being characteristic of the 
Aztecs. They were of one story only, and 



Teocallis and Tecpanes, 45 

had thatched roofs. They were built of 
stone to the height of several feet, as a pro- 
tection against the rising waters of the lake. 
The superstructures were of adobe and tim- 
ber. Canals to some extent took the place 
of streets, a broad canal separating Tenoch- 
titlan from Tlatelolco. 

Besides the teocallis there was in each 
quarter of Tenochtitlan and in Tlatelolco a 
tecpait, or house for the public business of 
the quarter, and there was a tecpan devoted 
to the business common to all the quarters 
of the city. Buildings were also provided 
for the residence of the Tlaca-tecuhtli and 
his family. Gardens probably surrounded 
the teocallis and the tecpanes. But there 
could have been no such pleasure-grounds 
in Tenochtitlan as have been described by 
some writers. In fact we may well be at 
a loss to account for the existence of sixty 
thousand families in Tenochtitlan and Tla- 
telolco, or even sixty thousand souls (as 
has been otherwise more modestly reported 
as the population at the time of the con- 
quest) within the acknowledged bounds of 
that ancient place. 

By reason of its peculiar position and its 
artificial isolation, Tenochtitlan was at the 



46 A Short History of Mexico. 

time of the conquest the strongest military 
position ever occupied by the Indians. To 
reduce it a mode of warfare was required 
altogether superior to that of the Aztecs. 

Probably the most widely circulated ac- 
counts of the civilization to which the Aztecs 
had attained at the time of the conquest 
are, like those of their national government, 
greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, they were 
certainly well advanced in the constructive 
and decorative arts, and were in the posses- 
sion of methods unknown to the artisans of 
the present day. 



CHAPTER II. 
"The Conquest of Mexico," 

Landing of Cortes. — His previous exploits on the Coast. — La 
Marina. — Cortes sets out to visit Tenochtitlan. — Incidents at 
Cempoalla. — Arrival in Tlaxcala. — Conquest of and Treaty 
with the Tlaxcalans. — Arrival in Cholula. — Massacre of the 
Cholultecas. — Vacillation of Moteczuma. — Meeting of Cortes 
and Moteczuma. — Cortes established in Tenochtitlan. — Arrest 
of Moteczuma. — Arrival of Narvaez in Cempoalla. — Defeat of 
Narvaez, and reinforcement of army of Cortes. — Rash act of 
Alvarado, and its consequences. — The Spaniards besieged in 
Tenochtitlan. — Daily battles. — Citlahuatzin elected Chief-of- 
Men. — Death of Moteczuma. — Cortes resolves to evacuate the 
city. — Noche Triste. — Escape of Alvarado. — Cortes takes 
Otoncalpolco. — Battle of Otumba. — Cuauhtemoc. — Retreat 
to Tlaxcala. — Reorganization of the expedition. — Arrival in 
Texcoco. — Ixtlilxochitl. — Siege of Tenochtitlan. — The 
Brigantines. — Surrender of Cuauhtemoc and capitulation of 
Tenochtitlan. 

IT was on the morning of Good Friday, 
April 21, 15 19, that Hernando Cortes 
landed at San Juan de Ulua, now the fortified 
island off the coast from Vera Cruz. He had 
left the Island of Cuba under stress of cir- 
cumstances on the lOth of February, with a 
force composed of 553 infantry, 16 horsemen, 
with their horses, no sailors, and 200 Cuban 



48 A Short History of Mexico. 

Indians, all in eleven ships, none of them 
large. They had in their possession ten can- 
nons and four falconets. The small fleet had 
touched at the Island of Acuzamil (Cozumel). 
Here Pedro de Alvarado, the lieutenant of 
Cortes, who had been a member of Grijalva's 
expedition, with characteristic impulsiveness, 
sacked the temples and houses of the Indians. 
Cortes, with equally characteristic policy, re- 
stored to the Indians their property, and' then 
sent messengers to secure the aid of certain 
Spaniards, who had fallen into the hands of 
the Indians, Though unsuccessful in this at- 
tempt, he accidentally secured the services, 
as an interpreter, of one Geronimo de Agui- 
lar, a Spaniard who had been shipwrecked 
on that coast several years before. Re-em- 
barking, Cortes and his followers reached on 
the 1 2th of March the Rio de Tabasco, and 
with his smaller crafts explored the river, dis- 
embarking in sight of an Indian town. The 
natives at first fled, but afterwards collected 
themselves and gave battle. Cortes, after 
being repulsed twice, overcame them, and 
upon closer acquaintance, secured the invalu- 
able services of Malintzin, a beautiful Indian 
woman, born in Jalisco, but early made a cap- 
tive among the Tabascan Indians, and thus 



Landing of Cortes, 49 

acquainted with both the Nahuatl language 
and the dialect spoken by the coast Indians. 
She was thus able to interpret for Cortes, 
through Aguilar, until she acquired the Span- 
ish tongue, which she soon did. She was 
among a dozen or twenty girls presented to 
the Spaniards by the Tabascans, as one of the 
terms of the peace established between them 
after the triumph of the arms of Cortes. Ma- 
lintzin was baptized into the Christian faith, 
and received the name Marina. She became 
the trusted companion of Cortes throughout 
his Mexican campaigns, and was also the 
mother of one of his two sons bearing the 
name Martin. 

It was thus equipped with interpreters and 
some knowledge of the land and its inhabi- 
tants, that Cortes reached the island since 
named San Juan de Ulua on the 21st of 
April. The next day he landed his troops at 
Chalchihuecan, the spot where now stands 
the city of Vera Cruz. Raising the standard 
selected for his expedition (a black banner 
bearing the arms of his Emperor, — the Aus- 
trian Eagle with the castles and lions of Cas- 
tile and Leon, with the further device of a 
crimson cross in clouds of blue and white, 
and the motto, ^^Amici, sequamur crucein et si 

4 



50 A Short History of Mexico. 

nos fidein habemus vere in hoc signo vince- 
mus "), he here organized his army. He 
named an '* ayuntainiento^^ and was by this 
board invested with the title of Captain-Gen- 
eral. He subsequently founded the city of 
such strange vicissitudes, bestowing upon it, 
apparently with prophetic vision, the name of 
^^ La Villa Rica de la Santa Vera Cruz'' — 
'* the rich city of the Holy True Cross." The 
city has been thrice removed, but in the year 
1600, in pursuance of orders from Spain, was 
re-established where first planted and where 
it now remains. 

The Captain-General at once began traffic 
with the natives, who out of curiosity were 
drawn to him. He traded off glass beads and 
other trifles for gold, gems, and articles of 
curious workmanship. Meanwhile he made 
a careful study of political affairs in the coun- 
try, and learned that the natives around him 
had been subjected to occasional raids by the 
armies of the Aztecs, and having been beaten 
by them, were compelled to pay tribute, be- 
sides having had to give up their young men 
as captives for sacrifice ; that the Aztecs oc- 
cupied a high table-land at considerable dis- 
tance from the coast, and entirely surrounded 
by mountains. At the same time reports were 



Advance to Tlaxcala, 51 

being forwarded to the Aztec Chief-of-Men, 
of the arrival of the strangers, giving minute 
descriptions of them and of their equipments. 
Cortes set out with his army to visit what 
he supposed to be the capital of a rich and 
powerful monarch. At an Indian town called 
Cempoalla (Zempoala) he found other tribu- 
taries of the Aztecs, who were inclined to 
estabhsh friendly relations with the Europe- 
ans, and strengthen themselves to oppose the 
claims of the Aztecs to tribute. He learned 
also of the existence of the Tlaxcalans, a 
tribe maintaining themselves in the moun- 
tains, and hitherto holding out against all ef- 
forts on the part of the Aztecs to compel them 
to pay tribute. He resolved to act at once 
upon the knowledge thus gained, and (though 
meeting with opposition in the ranks of his 
followers, and having to resort to extreme 
measures in dealing with some Spanish con- 
spirators whom he detected in his camp, and 
destroying the ships that had brought his 
troops to Mexico, in order that all possibility 
of return to Cuba might be given up) on 
the i6th of August set out from Cempoalla, 
by a route not readily traceable by modern 
landmarks (but probably passing through 
Jalapa, Socochima, Colotlan and Xalatzingo), 



52 A Short History of Mexico. 

arriving in due time at the frontier of Tlax- 
cala. Here he had an opportunity to learn of 
what stuff the Tlaxcalans were made, and why 
it was that they had so long withstood the ad- 
vancing power of the Aztecs. An immense 
army under the command of a young chief, 
Xicotencatl, prevented for some time his enter- 
ing the mountain walls which formed the nat- 
ural fortifications to Tlaxcala. This was on 
the 5th of September. But by the superiority 
of arms and of discipline, — the cannons of the 
Spaniards sending death and terror into the 
ranks of the Tlaxcalans, — Cortes succeeded 
in gaining a complete victory, and afterwards 
made a treaty of peace, and was on the 22d 
received by the Tlaxcalans with distinguished 
honors. 

By one of the terms of the treaty the 
Tlaxcalans furnished a body of troops to 
aid Cortes in his operations against the 
Aztecs. With these he proceeded to Cholula, 
whither he was unwillingly invited by the 
Cholultecas after they had for some time ig- 
nored him. In Cholula he discovered that a 
conspiracy had been formed to accomplish 
the total destruction of the Spaniards. This 
treachery he summarily punished. Assem- 
bling the principal Cholultecas in the patio 



Arrival in Tenochtitlan. 53 

of one of the buildings, he accused them of 
treachery, and then made an indiscriminate 
slaughter of three thousand Cholultecas, from 
whom the Tlaxcalan auxiliaries received a rich 
booty, and some of them retired to their own 
land. Cortes remained two weeks in Cholula 
and then continued his journey to Tenoch- 
titlan, passing between the two mountains 
Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl. Some of his 
soldiers made the ascent of the first-named 
mountain, much to the astonishment of the 
Indians, who were thereby strengthened in 
their belief in the superhuman character of 
the Spaniards. The route pursued by the 
Spaniards between Cholula and Tenochtitlan 
is that known to-day by the name of San 
Nicolas de los Ranchos, through Amecameca. 
From the time of receiving the first advices 
of the approach of the Spaniards, Motec- 
zuma had pursued a vacillating policy, — not 
knowing whether to oppose them as human 
enemies or to invite them as gods, whom to 
oppose would be worse than folly. He did in 
fact invite ; and when Cortes finally reached 
the city of Tenochtitlan by way of Ixtapa- 
lapan, on the 8th of November, 15 19, Mo- 
teczuma went forward to meet him, with all 
the ceremony belonging to his high position 



54 A Short History of Mexico. 

in his tribe. The meeting took place upon 
the street now known as Calle de Hospital 
de Jesus, — a continuation of the southern 
causeway, — at a point now marked by an 
inscribed stone in the walls of the hospital. 
The Spaniards were conducted to the tecpan^ 
built in the time of the Tlaca-tecuhtli Axa- 
yacatl, occupying the site of the block now 
fronting on the street called Santa Teresa la 
Antigua, — the block now occupied by build- 
ings formerly the convent bearing that name. 
The first care of the ever-cautious Spanish 
commander was to examine the city in which 
he found himself and his soldiers honored 
guests, but where he might, without due pre- 
cautions, find himself and them close prison- 
ers. What he found has been already briefly 
described. The city could not have been 
more than a fourth of the size of the present 
city of Mexico, though a population nearly 
as great, or even greater, has been claimed 
for it. 

. The Spanish Captain-General set out upon 
a shrewd policy for the conquest of the terri- 
tory, whose wealth and civilization were fairly 
dazzling. He was not precipitate, however, 
but enjoyed the hospitality of Tenochtitlan 
so long as it lasted, thereby gaining time for 



Arrest of Moteczuma. 55 

laying his plans for the conquest of the land. 
Meanwhile he urged upon Moteczuma the 
adoption of the Christian religion; and rep- 
resenting himself as the ambassador of a 
powerful European king actually claiming 
jurisdiction over that entire country, he urged 
Moteczuma to acknowledge himself the vassal 
of that king. That Moteczuma acknowledged 
his allegiance to the Spanish king was made 
the ground of the subsequent treatment of 
the Aztecs as rebellious subjects. But Mo- 
teczuma's acknowledgments must have been 
somewhat qualified, and he refused to adopt 
Christianity, and continued to vacillate in his 
opinions regarding the true character of the 
Spaniards. The populace, however, decided 
the point promptly, fully, and it may be 
added, correctly. They chafed under the 
pusillanimity of the chief and the overbear- 
ing conduct of the white visitors, whom they 
knew to be but men. 

The incautiously haughty bearing of the 
white men towards the natives and their re- 
ligion served to foment constant feuds. Cor- 
tes, conscious of the perilous position in 
which he was thereby placed, — almost in the 
hands of a powerful race, every man thereof 
a soldier, — sought to terrorize him whom he 



56 A Short History of Mexico. 

mistook for the king or emperor, and who 
really was the most influential of the Aztecs, 
and so hold the people in check. In com- 
pany with Velasquez de Leon, Gonzalo de 
Sandoval, Pedro de Alvarado, and other lieu- 
tenants, he went to the tecpan occupied by 
the tlaca-tecuhtli, where now stands the na- 
tional palace. There he charged the warrior 
with perfidy in some of his transactions with 
the Spaniards, and demanded that in proof 
of his good-will towards the white men, and 
of his dealing with them in good faith, he 
should surrender to them his person. He 
was to be the guest of the Spaniards, relin- 
quishing nought of his official position in the 
army and government of Mexico-Tenoch- 
titlan. Naturally the War-Chief was aston- 
ished by such a bold demand. He demurred ; 
but finally, intimidated by the menaces of 
Sandoval and Leon, he acquiesced, and ac- 
companied the Spaniards to their quarters, 
where apartments were prepared for his own 
occupancy and for a few of the minor chiefs 
who followed him. For a time Cortes ruled 
Mexico-Tenochtitlan by means of the impris- 
oned warrior. 

But a new difficulty arose. Word was 
brought to the Spanish Captain-General that 



uprising of the Aztecs. 57 

Panfilo de Narvaez, a Cuban, with six hun- 
dred followers, had landed at Vera Cruz, with 
the intention of superseding Cortes and his 
expedition in the conquest. They were act- 
ing under the orders of an old enemy of 
Cortes, the Governor of Cuba. Cortes was 
therefore forced to withdraw from Tenoch- 
titlan with a small body of troops, leaving 
the affairs of the Aztec city in the hands of 
the hot-headed, reckless Pedro de Alvarado. 
Narvaez was surprised in his quarters at Cem- 
poalla, defeated, and after a parley his six 
hundred men were added to the troops of 
Cortes, and with these reinforcements the 
Captain-General returned to Tenochtitlan. 

His return was very opportune ; for during 
his absence the hot-headed Alvarado had be- 
come restive and anxious to fight the Indian 
infidels, for whom he could not conceal his 
contempt. An Indian feast-day, in the month 
of May, 1520, presented an opportunity for 
him to visit his cruelties upon them. He 
had granted them permission to assemble in 
the grand teocalli, on condition that they 
would come unarmed. At midnight, while 
the ceremonies and religious dances were 
at their height, Alvarado, with fifty soldiers, 
entered, and slaughtered every one of them. 



58 A Short History of Mexico, 

The effect of this perfidious treatment was 
precisely what was to be expected. The 
whole populace arose and besieged the Span- 
iards and Tlaxcalans in the tecpan of Axa- 
yacatl. Daily sorties were made, and great 
loss inflicted upon the Indians; but it was 
always with some loss to the Spaniards, who 
felt the loss of one man far more than the 
Indians felt the loss of a hundred. The 
situation was becoming very critical when 
Cortes returned with the reinforcements se- 
cured from the expedition of Panfilo de 
Narvaez. 

The Mexicans were thoroughly aroused, 
and gathered from the neighboring pueblos 
for the defence of Tenochtitlan, and to drive 
out the hated intruders. In vain Cortes ap, 
plied his military genius to the questions 
daily presenting themselves. He constructed 
movable towers to be filled with soldiers, so 
as to sweep the housetops as they passed 
along the streets. Daily attacks were made 
to keep the way clear out of the city; but 
the drawbridges over the sluices through the 
causeway were withdrawn, and just so often 
as the Spaniards labored hard all day in the 
faces of the enraged Aztec warriors to fill 
up these sluices and to level the barricades 



Death of Moteczimta. 59 

erected to annoy them, they found the next 
day their work to do over again. 

The populace was especially enraged at 
the pusillanimity of their chief warrior, Mo- 
teczuma, who, instead of retaining his place 
at the head of the armies of Mexico-Tenoch- 
titlan, and aiding in driving out the hated 
invaders, had allowed himself to be made 
the prisoner of the Spaniards. Having de- 
faulted in his duty to his tribe and race, steps 
were taken to depose him and elect his suc- 
cessor. The choice fell upon Citlahuatzin, 
the brother of Moteczuma; and he at once 
placed himself at the head of the Aztec 
warriors, and pushed forward the measures 
against the Europeans, and besieged them 
in the old tecpan. 

Cortes, miscalculating the extent of Motec- 
zuma's power over the Aztecs, and probably 
unaware that he had been deposed and that 
the Aztec warriors owed their allegiance to 
another tlaca-tecuhtli, made one more effort 
to use him in controlling the surging masses 
filling the streets in the neighborhood of the 
quarters of the Europeans. He took the 
captive to the top of the tecpan in which 
he was lodged, that he might address his 
people. He did address them, commanding 



6o A Short History of Mexico. 

them to throw down their arms and disperse, 
and promising that if quiet were restored to 
the city the Spaniards would retire from the 
land. The people listened in silence to the 
words of their once brave war-chief; but 
when he had finished, an arrow was shot 
that struck Moteczuma in the head, and he 
fell senseless in the arms of his attendants. 
He was borne off to his apartments, and the 
strife was renewed. In a few days the de- 
posed and wounded tlaca-tecuhtli died, either 
from the effect of his wound, or as some say 
from cruelties received from the hands of the 
Spaniards, or (and this is most likely of all) 
of a broken heart (June 29 or 30, 1520). 

With the blow that fell upon the head of 
Moteczuma, Cortes saw that there was no 
further hope of his maintaining his position 
in Tenochtitlan. Calling his lieutenants to 
a council of war, he announced his intention 
to abandon the city. Preparations were made 
as secretly as possible that the plans of the 
Spaniards might not be divulged to the en- 
emy, who seemed at the time more quiet 
than usual. And on the night of the ist of 
July, 1520, the Spanish army, with the Tlax- 
calan allies, proceeded from the Axayacatl 
Tecpan and along the street leading to the 



La Noche Trisle, 6i 

Tlacopan causeway, — the route being now 
marked by the streets of Santa Teresa, Es- 
calarillas, Tacuba, Santa Clara, and San An- 
dres. It was at the western end of what is 
now the street of San Andres that the head 
of the column encountered the first sluiceway 
or canal, beyond which lay the causeway. 
A portable bridge had been provided by the 
forethought of Cortes, and was thrown across 
the canal, and the head of the column passed 
safely over to the causeway and on to the 
second sluiceway, in front of where now 
stands the Church of San Hipolito. It was 
in the midst of the rainy season, the darkness 
was intense, and the rain was falling in tor- 
rents. The Spaniards were about to con- 
gratulate themselves that their movements 
were unsuspected by the Aztecs, when sud- 
denly on all sides the dreaded war cries were 
heard, and almost as if by magic they found 
themselves completely surrounded by the na- 
tives. The lake was covered with canoes, 
each containing warriors. The air was filled 
with flying missiles. The Aztecs climbed 
upon the causeway, and engaged in hand-to- 
hand fights with the Spaniards. Both parties 
fought in the darkness with the fury of des- 
peration. The rear of the column of retreat- 



62 A Short History of Mexico. 

ing Spaniards and Tlaxcalan allies had not 
yet reached the portable bridge, while the 
head of the column could advance no farther, 
on account of the second sluice. When at 
last the rear had passed over the portable 
bridge, the bridge was found to be so tightly 
wedged into the masonry of the causeway 
that to move it was impossible. A terrible 
scene ensued. Needless to attempt to de- 
scribe it. Suffice it to say that the night is 
known in history as La Noche Triste, — the 
melancholy night. 

Cortes dashed into the canal and safely 
crossed. Others followed him, and thus 
fought their way, step by step opposed by 
the infuriated Aztecs, to the mainland. It 
was at the third canal (the middle of the 
block beyond the Plaza de San Fernando, 
now known as Puente de Alvarado), that 
Pedro de Alvarado, dismounted and sorely 
pressed by the enemy, placed the end of his 
pike upon the bodies partially filling the 
chasm, and vaulted over to the other side, 
and made his escape. 

The shattered remnants of the army of 
Cortes finally succeeded in gaining the main- 
land. There in the town of Tlacopan (Ta- 
Cuba) the Captain-General sat down upon a 



Capture of Otoncalpolco. 63 

stone under a spreading ahuehuetl (cypress), 
and collecting about him the survivors of the 
terrible conflict, wept over the loss he had 
sustained of many of his noble companions 
in arms. The losses attending this disas- 
trous retreat from the city have been esti- 
mated at four hundred and fifty Europeans, 
twenty-six horses, and four thousand Indian 
allies. The losses of the Aztecs were beyond 
computation; but the native population of 
the Mexican Valley and the tributary regions 
far and near was still ample to keep an op- 
posing force in the field against the Euro- 
peans, for every man in all that vast region 
was a warrior. 

The tourist may now follow the track of 
the retreating Spaniards — by horse-car, if 
he will — out past San Cosme on the caneria 
de San Cosme, past Tlaxpana to the village 
of Popotla (" the place of the broom "), the 
highway occupying the line of the old cause- 
way. And between the villages of Popotla 
and Tacuba still stands the arbol de Noche 
Triste, — the tree under whose branches Cor- 
tes summed up the terrible losses he had 
sustained, and yet in the midst of his bitter 
reflections resolved to regain the wealthy city 
that had been once within his grasp. 



64 -^ Short History of Mexico. 

Seeking a place of shelter from the storm 
and of rest after the terrible conflict, Cortes 
discovered a teocalli upon the hill of Otoncal- 
polco, twelve miles from Tenochtitlan, near 
the town Atzcapotzalco (" the ant-hill," the 
former seat of the Tecpanecas, then the slave- 
market of the Aztecs, and now an unimpor- 
tant Indian town). The teocalli was well 
fortified and defended by natives. But de- 
spite the wounds and fatigues of the Span- 
iards, an assault was made, and the place 
was wrested from the enemy. There the 
Spaniards recuperated. There also the great 
Captain-General laid definite plans for recruit- 
ing his army, capturing Tenochtitlan, and sub- 
jugating all Mexico to the crown of Spain. 

The now deserted sanctuary of Los Reme- 
dios marks the site of this Aztec temple. 
It was in 1535 that an image of the Blessed 
Virgin was found there, that had been hidden 
by a soldier who had brought the same from 
Spain, and had set it up by the permission 
of Moteczuma in the great teocalli of Tenoch- 
titlan. He had not suffered it to remain be- 
hind in the retreat from the city. A chapel 
was built for this image, and it became the 
great patron-saint of the Spaniards through- 
out the three centuries of Spanish rule in 



Battle of Otumba. 65 

Mexico. It was brought into Mexico with 
. great solemnity in the time of the Revolution 
(1810-1821) and was made the generala of 
the Spanish armies in their fights with the 
native revolutionists. Our Lady of the Rem- 
edies has always been a bitter opponent of 
Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose sway over 
the Mexican natives was subsequently fully 
established. 

Setting out from the temple of Otoncal- 
polco, and leaving the Valley of Mexico by 
a northern route leading through Cuauhtitlan 
and around Lake Zumpango, annoyed the 
whole distance by the natives, short of pro- 
visions and subsisting on horseflesh and even 
worse fare, the Spaniards, at the end of 
seven days after leaving Tenochtitlan, en- 
countered at Otumpan (Otumba) (thirty-five 
miles from the city, easterly, by the present 
line of railway travel) a large body of Aztecs, 
who gave battle. It was the final ambush, 
characteristic of their mode of warfare. The 
Spaniards were in a sorry plight to assume 
even the defensive, and the battle must have 
resulted in their complete annihilation had 
not Cortes, Sandoval, Olid, and Alvarado 
concentrated their attention upon one who 
seemed to be the principal chief of the com- 

5 



66 A Short History of Mexico. 

batants. By an heroic effort they caused his 
fall, and then the Spaniards were masters of 
the field. The Aztecs fled, and the battle of 
Otumba was won. 

Cortes and the remnant of his army con- 
tinued on their way to Tlaxcala, where they 
were well received, notwithstanding the dis- 
asters which had overtaken the Tlaxcalans 
who had accompanied the expedition. Tak- 
ing time to heal the wounds received in the 
campaign, and devoting some attention to 
the relief of the slender garrison at Vera 
Cruz and to various expeditions against hos- 
tile Indians, the Spaniards managed to enter 
into a firm treaty with the Tlaxcalans, by 
which further resources were obtained for 
the final conquest of the Aztecs. As good 
fortune would have it, reinforcements arrived 
from Spain, from Cuba, and from Santo Do- 
mingo. On Christmas Eve, 1520, Cortes 
was able to set out against the Aztecs at the 
head of an army composed of seven hundred 
infantry, one hundred and eighteen arque- 
busiers, eighty-six horses, and about one 
hundred and fifty thousand Tlaxcalan allies, 
all well supplied with ammunition. Going 
by way of Rio Frio and Buena Vista (near 
Lake Chalco), and securing the allegiance 



Texcoco. 6^ 

of Ixtlilxochitl, the military chief of Tena- 
yucan, or, as we must now call it, Texcoco, 
the Captain-General reached that city, and 
lodged in the tecpan of Netzahualpilli. 

By Spanish historians Texcoco has been 
described as a kingdom, of which Ixtlilxo- 
chitl was the lawful king, but had been 
supplanted by his cousin Cacamatzin, the 
eleventh in a line of monarchs. Precisely 
what was the title and authority of Caca- 
matzin, it would be unnecessary to decide. 
He was certainly not a king, for Texcoco 
was not a kingdom. He was probably a 
war-chief, and as such was, under the confed- 
eracy, subject to the Chief-of-Men of Mex- 
ico-Tenochtitlan. In the quarrel between 
Cacamatzin and Ixtlilxochitl, Moteczuma had 
taken the part of the former, which made 
Ixtlilxochitl willing to espouse the cause of 
the Spaniards as against the Aztecs. Cortes 
established a sort of protectorate in Tena- 
yucan, and maintained Ixtlilxochitl in his 
position, — making use of him and his fol- 
lowers, however, for his own purposes. 

In Texcoco the army of Cortes was thor- 
oughly reorganized, the same being increased 
by fifty thousand Texcucans, Cholultecas, 
and Huexotzincas. The brigantines, con- 



6S A Short History of Mexico. 

structed in sections by the direction of Cortes 
in Tlaxcala, were brought hither, put together 
and launched upon the waters of Lake Tex- 
coco. With these and sixteen thousand Tex- 
cucan canoes, Cortes was prepared to attack 
Tenochtitlan from the lake side. 

While these events were In progress another 
change had taken place In the office of tlaca- 
tecuhtli of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Citlahuat- 
zin had not long survived his election. He 
had conducted the assault on the Melancholy 
Night, and had planned the attack at Otumba, 
but had within a short time thereafter suc- 
cumbed to the small pox, — a disease brought 
to Mexico by a negro In the army of Nar- 
vaez, and which had already carried off 
thousands of the natives- CItlahuatzin was 
succeeded by Cuauhtemoc or Gautemotzin, 
the son of Ahultzotzin, a Tlatelolcan. 

Cuauhtemoc, the last tlaca-tecuhtli of 
Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was the most popular 
warrio'r of his race, and threw his whole soul 
into the cause of the people. And he still 
has a firm hold upon the affections of the 
Mexican people. A bust of him — its ped- 
estal containing inscriptions on one side in 
the Nahuatl tongue, on the other in Spanish, 
reciting his " heroic defence of the city of 



Cuauhtemoc. 6g 

Tenochtitlan " — adorns the banks of the Viga 
at a point a short distance from the Mexican 
capital , and a beautiful monument has been 
erected in the Paseo de la Reforma, to him 
who is generally regarded as the last mon- 
arch of the Aztec empire. Mexicans even 
to-day contemplate his memory with enthu- 
siastic admiration ; and aver that if he had 
earlier been elevated to the chieftaincy, in the 
place of the pusillanimous Moteczuma, the 
Spaniards would never have succeeded in 
making the conquest of the country, the 
history of three centuries of Spanish rule 
in Mexico would never have been written, 
and the Aztecs would still be working out 
their own proper destiny among the great 
nations of the earth. 

All things being in readiness, Cortes 
instituted a formal siege of Tenochtitlan. 
The first division of his army was under 
the command of Pedro de Alvarado, and 
was stationed at Tlacopan The second 
division, under the command of Olid, was 
stationed at Cuyuacan, the terminus of one 
of the branches of the southern causeway. 
Tepeyacac ( Guadalupe) was the position 
taken up by the third division, under Gon- 
zalo de Sandoval. The Captain-General 



70 A Short History of Mexico. 

reserved to himself the command of the 
brigantines. IxtHlxochitl assisted in the 
command of the aUied troops. 

Cuauhtemoc was not idle. He strength- 
ened his fortifications, increased the number 
of his canoes, supplied himself with provi- 
sions and cut off the causeways, — not ad- 
mirable military proceedings, but a siege 
was unknown to Indian warfare, and Cuauh- 
temoc did the best that could be done under 
the system of war known to the Aztecs. He 
established his headquarters in Tlatelolco, 
where the deserted church of Santiago-Tla- 
telolco, with its adjoining ex-convent (now a 
military prison), remain the most conspicu- 
ous buildings in the northern portion of the 
city of Mexico. 

The movements of the besieging army 
were necessarily slow. The fresh water 
supply from Chapultepec was first cut off. 
Thus thirst aided hunger among the Aztecs 
to win the battles of the Spaniards. By 
daily attacks, demolishing everything that 
opposed them, the Spaniards gradually 
hemmed the Aztecs into smaller and smaller 
quarters. The canals were filled up with 
debris, and the number of Indians killed daily 
was beyond computation. Still they fought 



Surrender of Tenochtitlan. "ji 

with the desperation o£ men employing their 
last chance. 

The great feat of the brigantines was the 
capture of Penon Viejo. What is now a coni- 
cal hill some little distance from Lake Tex- 
coco was then a fortified island in the lake. 
The brigantines bombarded it, and the forces 
under Cortes reduced it. The brigantines also 
destroyed all the canoes of the Aztecs and 
drove the enemy from the lake. 

All offers of peace were rejected by the 
Aztecs. Starving and shrunken by disease, 
breathing the foul air from the bodies fester- 
ing in the sun throughout the long summer 
of 1 52 1, seeing their beautiful city with its 
temples and palaces disappear under the de- 
structive hands of the Spaniards, and of their 
ancient enemies, the Tlaxcalans, — the Aztecs 
obeyed every word of their Chief-Warrior, 
and fought to the end. Tenochtitlan was in 
ruins, and only Tlatelolco remained. The 
whole campaign had lasted eight months, the 
formal siege eighty days, when on the 13th 
of August, 1 52 1, — San Hipolito day, — a 
canoe was seen to leave Tlatelolco and start 
across the lake northerly. Chase was given 
by Garcia de Holguin in a brigantine, and the 
canoe being captured was found to contain 



72 A Short History of Mexico. 

Cuauhtemoc, his wife (a daughter of Motec- 
zuma II.), and some of his principal warriors. 
They were all taken before Cortes, and were 
at first treated with the respect due to their 
high position, and the bravery with which 
they had withstood the attacks of the 
Spanish. 

Thus was accomplished the Conquest of 
Mexico. 



CHAPTER III. 

Military Governors and Ecclesiastics, 

Measures of Cortes after the Conquest. — Division of the Spoils. 

— Torture of Cuauhtemoc. — Rebuilding of the city. — Modem 
identification of sites. — The teocalli and tecpan. — Expedition 
into Hibueros. — Execution of Cuauhtemoc. — Opposition to 
Cortes in Mexico. — Subsequent life of Cortes. — His death in 
1547. — Government of New Spain. — Ayuntamientos. — Visit- 
ors and Resident Judges. — Royal Auditors. — Military Gov- 
ernors. — Ecclesiastical Government. — The Bishopric and 
Archbishopric of Mexico. — Religious motives in the Conquest. 

— Father Olmedo. — Missionaries. — The Franciscans. — The 
Dominicans and Augustinians. — Religious Nomenclature. — 
Founding of Puebla. — The Virgin of Guadalupe. — Institution 
of the Feast of Guadalupe. 

UPON the capitulation of Tenochtitlan, 
Cortes took up his residence in Cuy- 
uacan. A house built for him and La Ma- 
rina shortly afterwards still exists on the north 
side of the plaza in that town (now called 
Coyoacan), and is used as the municipal 
building. From his new headquarters the 
Captain- General commanded the cleansing 
of the city he had just captured and des- 
troyed, employing fires to burn the dead 
bodies lying in heaps in all parts of it. He 



74 -^ Short History of Mexico. 

sought also to relieve the necessities of the 
famished survivors of the terrible siege. It 
is hazarded as a guess that 100,000 of the 
Aztecs had died either in battle or of hunger 
during the siege. 

At once there began a clamor among 
the Spanish soldiers as to the treasures of 
the Aztecs which had been held out before 
their imaginations throughout their hard- 
ships as the rewards of their perseverance. 
The amount actually divided among them 
could not have given them more than one 
hundred pesos per capita^ according to Ber- 
nal Diaz, and that was, even \i pesos de oro^ 
or gold, were meant, but $1,200, and was 
disappointing; while if $100 silver were in- 
tended, it was a mere pittance as compensa- 
tion for their two years and a half of risks and 
toils, of wounds and sickness. To appease 
their clamorings Cuauhtemoc and one of the 
war-chiefs of Tlacopan were put to torture 
that they might be made to divulge what 
disposition had been made of the wealth of 
the Aztecs. Their feet were covered with 
oil and roasted before a slow fire. But the tor- 
ture was heroically borne (by Cuauhtemoc at 
least, who turned to his companion and in 
reply to his groans said, " Do not suppose 



Rebuilding of the City. 75 

that I am as comfortable as I would be in my 
bath ")> ^nd the only admission that could be 
extorted was that the treasures had been 
thrown into Lake Texcoco. Search in the 
lake, however, revealed but a few objects, and 
those of small value. 

The next subject to which attention was 
given by the great Conqueror was the gov- 
ernment of the newly acquired territory. 
Naturally he established, tentatively, a mili- 
tary government, assuming for himself the 
titles of Governor, Captain-General, and 
Chief Justice. He was subsequently con- 
firmed in these titles by the King of Spain, 
to whom he had diligently reported all his 
proceedings in the new country, and in whose 
name he had taken possession of the terri- 
tory, naming it New Spain. 

The rebuilding of the city, to be the capital 
of New Spain, was ordered upon the site of 
the old, against the judgment of several who 
saw many more desirable locations for a city 
within the Mexican Valley. It was upon 
a plan intended to vie with the cities of 
Spain in splendor that Cortes set out upon 
the work of reconstruction. The canals were 
to a great extent filled up. The names of 
many of the streets in the modern city are 



76 A Short History of Mexico. 

our clew to the size of the Spanish city im- 
mediately succeeding the overthrow of Ten- 
ochtitlan. An irregular circle of streets each 
named Puente ('' bridge ") would indicate 
the limits of the island city. The southern 
limits must have been in the neighborhood of 
Puente de San Antonio Abad ; the western 
limits may be traced through the streets 
named Puente de Mariscala, Puente de San 
Francisco, and several others on a line there- 
with; the eastern boundary must have been 
considerably within the line of the puentes in 
the vicinity of San Lazaro ; while the nar- 
row dividing line between Mexico and Tla- 
telolco (though the latter was included within 
the new city, and reserved for occupancy by 
the natives) is likewise indicated by a line 
of streets deriving their names from ancient 
bridges over a canal. 

The lines of the causeways were partially 
retained within the city. The tourist may 
now trace the southern causeway from the 
southeast corner of the Zocalo, or main plaza, 
through the Calle de los Flamencos, and in 
a directline past the Hospital de Jesus to 
San Antonio Abad (the street, though 
straight, changing its name with every block, 
— a characteristic of Mexican streets), near 



Notable Sites Preserved. 77 

which point stood Xoloc, and the fork oc- 
curred in the ancient causeway. If the north- 
ern causeway was, as has been said, in direct 
continuation of the southern, its line within 
the city has been obHterated, and corresponds 
to no existing street. Beyond the city Hmits 
it is that highway by which the horse-cars 
now run to the city of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. 
The western causeway has been already 
identified. It was the first to be widened, 
and in order to make it a sure way of retreat 
no sluices were left open in it. That a series 
of defences might be obtained, house-build- 
ing was especially encouraged along its line. 
The growth of the city in that direction has 
been the consequence. Along the north 
side of the Alameda this causeway bears 
the name of La Avenida de Hombres Ilus- 
tres C' Avenue of Illustrious Men "), in token 
of its historic memories. 

The great teocalli had been completely de- 
stroyed, and its site was permanently set apart 
for a Christian temple. Prior to the year 
1524 a small church was built there. It 
was intended as a temporary structure 
merely, and was replaced in a few years 
by another small edifice. The latter building 
was, however, of the dignity of a cathedral. 



yS A Short History of Mexico. 

Mexico having been erected into a diocese 
by Pope Clement VII., in 1527, and Fray 
Juan de Zumarraga having been made its 
first bishop. 

In the partition of the city by lot among 
the conquerors, the site of the tecpan of 
Moteczuma II. fell to the Captain-General, 
and upon it Cortes built a large, low house, 
with towers at the corners, intending to use 
the same as the gubernatorial palace. It 
was confirmed to him by royal order, and 
continued in his own and his heirs' posses- 
sion until 1562, when it was bought by the 
Spanish government to be used as the vice- 
regal palace. The present national palace, 
occupying the same site, was begun thirty 
years later, after the original building had 
been destroyed by fire in a riot. There 
was also assigned to Cortes a palace built 
upon the site of the present Monte de Piedad, 
or national pawnshop. 

In the work of reconstruction the Gov- 
ernor employed the services of the Tlaxca- 
lan allies, thus fulfilling the predictions of the 
Aztecs, as during the siege they beheld their 
hereditary enemies engaged in the work of 
destruction under the commands of the Span- 
iards. ** Ay, go on and destroy," they had 



Troubles of Cortes. 79 

said ; " you will only have to rebuild as the 
slaves of the white men." 

The adventurous spirit of Cortes was ill- 
suited to the quiet pursuits of government, 
and he was well pleased when the opportu- 
nity came for him to lead an army into Hi- 
bueros, as Central America was then called, 
in 1525. The occasion was an insurrection 
headed by Olid, who had been appointed 
governor of that region. It was on the way 
thither that in Izanca (now called Tabasco) 
final disposition was made of the brave 
Cuauhtemoc. He was accused, probably 
unjustly, of conspiring with others to over- 
throw Cortes, and was summarily hanged 
to a cypress- tree; and thus died the last 
Tlacatecuhtli of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in the 
twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth year of his 
age. 

Cortes found Olid already dead when he 
reached Hibueros, and the land at peace ; 
but on his return to Mexico he found that 
his enemies had supplanted him in his ab- 
sence, and his life was henceforth principally 
spent in defending his character from the 
charges brought against him by those who 
were envious of his fame. Many false charges 
were undoubtedly brought against him, and 



8o A Short History of Mexico. 

in addition to these his whole career was 
made the subject of investigation. It was 
probably from no very good motives that 
he was made to defend many acts for which 
we would ourselves condemn him, — the mas- 
sacre of the Cholulans, the capture of Motec- 
zuma, the torture and finally the death of 
Cuauhtemoc. Journeys to Spain were made 
to arrange his affairs and defend himself from 
the machinations of his enemies. In the in- 
tervals of these journeys he made expeditions 
of discovery and conquest in the neighbor- 
hood of Jalisco and the Pacific coast as far 
as California. In 1529 the Emperor Charles 
V. bestowed upon him the title of Marques 
del Valle de Oaxaca, and with it an immense 
estate comprising the Valley of Quahnahuac 
(Cuernavaca), a beautiful and fertile valley a 
day's ride southwest of the Mexican capital. 
A cross set up by the great Conquistador to 
mark the eastern boundary of his vast estate 
may still be seen at Cruz del Marques. At 
Cuernavaca, in buildings which still stand, 
the last three years of his life in Mexico 
were spent. A church which he built also 
exists there. 

The declining years of Cortes were not 
happy. He gave up Marina to her people 



Death of Cortes. 8 1 

on one of his journeys into her native coun- 
try. His own wife arrived from Cuba, but 
died soon after her arrival, and his enemies 
hesitated not to say that he caused her death. 
Tradition points out a well in Coyoacan in 
which he is said to have drowned her, but 
this is clearly a mistake. In addition to the 
malicious stories proclaimed by his envious 
enemies, the ingratitude of his sovereign, 
whose territories and riches he had vastly 
increased, served to magnify the difficulties 
of his old age. He finally went to Spain, and 
was taken seriously ill at Sevilla. Remov- 
ing to a neighboring village called Castilleja 
de la Cuesta, he died there the 2d of Decem- 
ber, 1547, in the sixty-third year of his age. 
He was but thirty-five when he set out upon 
his career of conquest in Mexico. 

His remains were first buried in the tomb of 
the Dukes of Medina Sidonia in the Chapel of 
San Isidro, but subsequently, in partial fulfil- 
ment of his expressed wishes, his bones were 
taken to Mexico and placed in the Church of 
San Francisco, Texcoco. In 1629, upon the 
death of his grandson Pedro, son of the Martin 
who was born to the Conqueror by La Marina, 
it was decided to bury the bones of the Cap- 
tain-General with the remains of his grand- 

6 



82 A Short History of Mexico. 

son in the Monastery of San Francisco in the 
city of Mexico. With great solemnity this 
was done in February of that year. In 1794 
the bones of the Conqueror were again re- 
moved, this time to the Church of Jesus 
Nazareno, which he himself had founded, 
with the adjoining hospital, and amply en- 
dowed sometime prior to 1524. There a 
marble sarcophagus had been prepared to 
receive them. The sarcophagus remains and 
may be seen by visitors,, but in the revolution- 
ary times, the second and third decades of 
the present century, when everything Spanish 
was the object of hatred and liable to mob 
violation, the bones of Cortes were removed 
for greater safety (on the night of the 15th 
of September, 1823), and hidden in another 
part of the church. They were finally re- 
moved by Don Lucas Alaman, the famous 
historian and publicist, and Mexican agent 
of the Duke of Monteleone, the heir of Cor- 
tes, and sent to Italy, where they are now at 
rest in the tomb of the Monteleones. 

The form of government established by 
Cortes in Vera Cruz under the name of Los 
Ayuntamientos was a very wise provision, 
and many of its ordinances have been in 



Early Government of New Spain. 83 

force in Mexico since the year 1522. In 
addition to this there was a board of Royal 
Officials (Officiales Reales) having charge of 
the government of New Spain ad interim, in 
the absence of Cortes. When Cortes fell 
under the suspicion of the Spanish sovereign 
there were appointed by the crown Visitors 
and Resident Judges (los Visitadores y Jueces 
de Residencia) to examine and report upon 
the charges made against him, and to assume 
the government in cases of necessity. Finally 
there were Royal Audiences (Oidores Reales), 
boards composed of jurists, usually five in 
number, whose duties were to administer 
justice and to act as a check upon the mili- 
tary governors ; and in case of a vacancy in 
the head of the colonial government, the 
President of the Audience filled the post 
ad interifn. There were at first two such 
audiences, one in the city of Mexico, the 
* other at some distance therefrom, and in- 
tended to have jurisdiction along the Pacific 
coast. 

Don Luis Ponce de Leon succeeded Cortes 
as military governor of New Spain in 1526, 
but he lived only a few months and was suc- 
ceeded by a jurist named Marcos Aguilar. 
The next year Alonzo Estrada and Gonzalo 



84 A Short History of Mexico. 

Sandoval were military governors. In 1528 
the first Audience was sent out to Mexico, 
virtually for the purpose of persecuting Cor- 
tes. Its president, Nuno de Guzman, was a 
man of great cruelty and dishonesty, and 
left an unsavory record behind him on ac- 
count of his unprovoked murder of the Tar- 
ascan chief in Michoacan. In 1529 a second 
Audience came to Mexico. Its president 
was Sebastian Rameres de Fuenleal, and this 
Audience retained the governing power, 
without accomplishing much of historic in- 
terest, until the year 1535, when the first 
of a long line of viceroys begun to rule in 
New Spain. 

Meanwhile another important governing 
power had been established in the land, de- 
manding our attention. As has been men- 
tioned. Pope Clement VII. in 1527 erected 
Mexico into a bishopric and appointed, upon' 
the nomination of Emperor Charles V., Fray 
Juan de Zumarraga, bishop. He received 
the title of Bishop and Protector of the 
Indians. When other dioceses were created 
in New Spain, and the original diocese 
was advanced to an archbishopric, its first 
bishop was correspondingly advanced in 



The Ecclesiastical Power, 85 

dignity.^ This was by act of Pope Paul II. 
in 1545. From the very first the prelates of 
New Spain exercised a great influence in the 
civil affairs of the country. They early won 
the good-will of the natives. They were em- 
powered to exercise the viceregal functions 
ad interim in certain cases, upon the death 
of the viceroy. So that we have the names 
of no less than ten prelates in the long list of 
Spanish viceroys. 

In the period now under our notice, from 
the Conquest to the time of the viceroys, the 
ecclesiastical power was taking a deep root 
in the fertile soil of New Spain, to have there 
a most astonishing growth for three centuries 
and more. The most prominent monuments 
to greet the eyes of the tourists in Mexico 
at the present day are those relating to the 
ecclesiastical history of that country. It is 
necessary, therefore, that some attention be 
given to that subject. 

In point of fact, one of the terms of the 
contract by which the Spanish kings ac- 
quired right to the countries of the New 
World under the bull of Pope Alexander 

^ Zumarraga did not live, however, to receive the pall 
and be installed archbishop. The first archbishop was 
Alonso de Montufar. 



86 A Short History of Mexico, 

VI. (May 4, 1493) was the advancement of 
the Church in those countries. And there 
can be no doubt that one of the actuating 
motives of the expedition for the conquest 
of Mexico, was a zeal for Holy Church, and 
each one of the rough old warriors belonging 
to the army of Cortes had a desire, along 
with his love of gold and of adventure, to 
bring other nations under the sway o,f the 
Holy Faith. They were not accomplished 
missionaries, it must be confessed, and failed 
most ingloriously in all their attempts to 
bring the natives of Mexico to a knowledge 
of the Christian religion. But belonging to 
the expedition of Cortes was Father Olmedo, 
a fit type of the soldier priest of the sixteenth 
century. He not only shrived the soldiers, 
and said masses for them before going into 
battle, and gave to the slain Christian burial, 
but he baptized such of the natives as de- 
sired to adopt the new faith, and judiciously 
instructed all who expressed a desire to 
learn anything concerning the religion of 
the Europeans. The destruction of heathen 
temples, furthermore, was quickly followed 
by the building of Christian churches. In 
the case of the great teocalli of Tenochtitlan, 
we have already seen the pro-cathedral erect- 



The Franciscans. 8/ 

ed and rebuilt. The Sagrario (adjoining the 
cathedral) was built in 1524 as the first parish 
church, for the use of the European residents 
of New Spain. The present structure is of 
much more recent date (circa 1749)- 

Missionaries were among the first colon- 
izers in New Spain. Every ship from the 
old country brought some of them. They 
were for the most part members of one or 
another of the various religious orders. Fray 
Pedro Gante (Peter of Ghent in Flanders) 
and five missionaries were among the earliest 
of these, and they established themselves in 
Texcoco. And in 1524 the " twelve Apostles 
of Mexico," as they were called, being twelve 
Franciscans, appeared in the country. To 
the most prominent of these. Fray Martin de 
Valencia, the Superior of the Province, has 
been given the name " The Father of the 
Mexican Church." Finding Pedro Gante at 
his work in Texcoco they took him with 
them to Mexico. 

It was by the Franciscans, who at once 
assumed control of the missions to the In- 
dians, that the new city was divided into 
four sections or parishes, coterminous with 
the former divisions of Tenochtitlan, and the 
names of the churches erected in these four 




88 A Short History of Mexico, 

divisions supplanted the Indian names for- 
merly given to them. San Juan Bautista, 
now San Juan de la Penitencia (no longer a 
parish church), in the market-place of San 
Juan, gave its name to what was formerly 
known as Moyotlan, in the southwest ; the 
church of San Pablo on the Plaza San Pablo 
in the southeast gave its name to what was 
formerly Teapan ; Nuestra Senora de la As- 
cunsion (now known as Santa Maria la Re- 
donda), on a block bounded by various streets 
having Santa Maria in their names, in the 
northwest, gave its name to what was for- 
merly known as Cuepapan ; and in the 
northeast the church of San Sebastian, on 
the street of that name, gave its name to 
what had been known as Aztacalco. These 
four churches were designed for the use of 
the natives, and were all subordinate to the 
church of San Jose de los Naturales, near 
San Juan de la Penitencia. The buildings 
which first bore the names above-mentioned 
no longer exist in Mexico, as will hereafter 
more clearly appear, but the names them- 
selves are historic monuments, and mark sites 
of deep interest to the tourist. Tlatelolco 
became the seat of the church of Santiago 
and of a " college" for the natives, in 1536. 



Growth of the Franciscans. 89 

The very year of his arrival, Fray Valencia 
founded Franciscan monasteries in Huexot- 
zinco, Texcoco, Tlaxcala, and the city of 
Mexico. The site occupied in the city of 
Mexico was that said to have formerly con- 
tained the natural-history museum of Ten- 
ochtitlan, — a tract bounded by the present 
streets of Zuleta, San Juan de Letran, Col- 
iseo, Colegio de las Ninas, and First San 
Francisco. The tract is now intersected by 
the Calle de la Independencia (a monument 
of an historical event of the present century) 
and a short street very appropriately named 
Calle Gante. Upon this tract was erected 
a magnificent monastery, of which detached 
portions still exist, and cannot fail to attract 
the attention of the visitor. The building, how- 
ever, belongs to a later period. The school 
of San Juan de Letran was founded in 1529. 

The development of the work undertaken 
by the Franciscans was so encouraging that 
by 1565 three other provinces had been 
erected : San Jose de Yucatan, Santo Nom- 
bre de Jesus de* Guatemala, and San Pedro 
y San Pablo de Michoacan; and in 1606 
two others were added : Santiago de Jalisco, 
and Nuestro Padre de San Francisco de 
Zacatecas. 



90 A Short History of Mexico. 

In 1526 missionary monks of the Domini- 
can order arrived in Mexico. Their career 
was so intimately connected with the history 
of the country that we shall have occasion to 
see more of them. In 1533 seven Augustin- 
ian monks arrived and took possession of a 
tract of land in a part of the city of Mexico 
called Zoquiapan, where now stands the Bib- 
liotheca Nacional on the Calle de San Agus- 
tin. Other and less important orders arrived 
subsequently from time to time. 

The tourist will find in the sacred names 
given to streets in the city of Mexico and 
in other cities of the country, lasting monu- 
ments to the number of edifices once existing 
there. The religious nomenclature observ- 
able throughout the country likewise testifies 
to the untiring zeal of the missionaries who 
followed up the conquest of the country and 
kept in the front rank of all the schemes for 
colonization. 

To this period belongs the founding of the 
city of Puebla. Among the twelve Francis- 
can *' apostles " was one named Fray Torri- 
bio Benevente, to whom the Indians gave 
the name of Motolinia (*' the poor and miser- 
able"), a name he humbly accepted. He con- 
ceived the idea of building a religious city, to 



The Virgin of Guadalupe. 91 

be a resting-place for travellers between Vera 
Cruz and the city of Mexico. Hence, on the 
i6th of April, 1530, the town was begun on a 
site " revealed to the MotoHnia in a dream," 
— he and Juan Salmeron (a member of the 
Second Audience) being the founders. It 
was called ''La Puebla de los Angeles'' ("the 
town of the Angels "). Eight thousand Tlax- 
calans were employed in the building, and in 
a short time and " as though by enchant- 
ment," nearly four thousand houses (proba- 
bly mere huts) were erected. 

Precisely how much or how little of sober 
history enters into the traditions regarding 
the great Patron Saint of the Indians of 
Mexico, it would be difficult to say. But as 
the year 153 1 is fixed as the date of the 
alleged apparition of the Blessed Virgin in 
Guadalupe, and as the influence of the tradi- 
tions has been widespread and cannot fail to 
reach the attention of the tourist, it is proper 
to relate here what is told concerning '' Nues- 
tra Senora de Guadalupe !' 

Prior to the Conquest the Aztecs used the 
hill of Tepeyacac, at the terminus of the 
northern causeway from Tenochtitlan, as a 
military outpost, and had also erected there 



92 A Short History of Mexico, 

a teocalli for the especial worship of Tonant- 
sin, '* the mother of the gods." On the 9th 
of December in the year named above, Juan 
Diego, an Indian of Cuauhtitlan, was on his 
way to mass in Santiago-Tlatelolco, then a 
Httle chapel, one of the numerous Franciscan 
chapels built through the instrumentality of 
Padre Gante. Passing the hill of Tepeyacac 
he heard music, and looking up saw the 
Blessed Virgin, who directed him to go 
forthwith to Bishop Zumarraga and tell him, 
in her name, to build a church upon that 
hill for the accommodation of all those In- 
dians who lived at such a great distance 
from Tlatelolco. The Bishop was gracious 
but incredulous, and demanded proofs of the 
apparition which Juan described. Juan went 
back to report, and was told by the Blessed 
Virgin to come the next day, when she would 
furnish the required proofs. Sickness in his 
house prevented Juan from keeping his ap- 
pointment the next day, and when the sick- 
ness increased and Juan was sent for a priest 
early on the morning of the 12th of Decem- 
ber, he was afraid to cross the hill of Tepey- 
acac. But as he skirted the eastern side of 
the hill the Blessed Virgin came down to 
meet him, told him to feel no anxiety about 



The MiraculoiLS Image. 93 

the sick at his house, but to cut some flowers 
from the rock at his feet, wrap them in his 
serape, and show them to no one until he 
stood before the Bishop. Lo, flowers were 
actually growing upon the rock whereon 
Juan stood, and he did as he was told. And 
when he unwrapped his serape in the pres- 
ence of the Bishop, a greater wonder was 
beheld than the flowers gathered from the 
rock. A beautiful portrait of the Virgin 
appeared, as though painted upon the serape. 
The Bishop could no longer remain incredu- 
lous. He forthwith built a chapel where the 
miraculous flowers had been plucked, and 
where now stands the Collegiate Church of 
Guadalupe. The church built by him was 
afterwards enlarged and is now the sacristy 
of the present edifice. The handsome Col- 
legiate Church itself is the second structure 
covering the entire site. It was built about 
the beginning of the eighteenth century, re- 
placing one built about a century previously. 
The sei^ape of Juan Diego, with its miraculous 
image of the Blessed Virgin, is enclosed be- 
hind plate glass in a frame over the high 
altar. 

Of the other two chapels at Guadalupe, the 
Capilla del Cerrito marks the spot of the first 



94 -^ Short History of Mexico. 

appearance of the Blessed Virgin ; the Capilla 
del Pocito encloses the well or spring which 
first gushed forth during the last interview 
between Juan and the Blessed Virgin. 

The 1 2th of December was generally ob- 
served by the Indians of Mexico as a re- 
ligious feast almost from the time of the 
alleged apparition, but it did not receive 
papal sanction until 1754. Then by papal 
bull the festival was instituted, and the Virgin 
of Guadalupe was declared the Patroness and 
Protectress of New Spain. She became the 
champion of the Mexicans in the revolt of 
New Spain in the present century, while the 
Virgin of the Remedies became the cham- 
pion of the Spanish troops. The 12th of 
December was made a national holiday upon 
the establishment of the Republic in 1824, 
and Guadalupe has been made a religious 
centre ever since. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Viceroys of the Sixteenth and Seven- 
teenth Centuries, and the Inquisition. 

Portraits of the Viceroys. — Antonio de Mendoza, the first Vice- 
roy. — The first Book and the first Coins in the New World. — 
Development of mines, manufactures, and founding of cities. — 
Bartolomeo de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapas. — Luis de Velasco, 
the Emancipator. — Mining in New Spain. — Conspiracy of 
Martin Cortes. — Martin Enriques de Almanza, the Inquisitor. 
— Establishment of the Holy Office in New Spain. — The Bra- 
sero and its Victims. — Arrival of the Jesuits. — Beginning of 
the Cathedral. — Pest and Inundation. — New Mexico. — Ex- 
ploration on Californian coast, and colonization elsewhere. — 
Another inundation of the capital. — Attempts to drain the Val- 
ley. — The Huehuetoca tunnel. — Brief rule of the Archbishop 
of Mexico. — Further attempts at drainage and other public 
works. — The rival Engineers. — Trouble between Church and 
State. — The great Inundation. — Reopening of the tunnel. — 
The dikes. — The Bishop of Puebla, viceroy. — Autos de fe. — 
Cruel rule of the Bishop of Yucatan. — Another Bishop of Pue- 
bla. — Colonization of Texas and California. — Famine and In- 
surrection. — Conquest of Texas and New Mexico. — Change of 
Dynasty in Spain. 

IN one of the rooms of the National Mu- 
seum, in the city of Mexico, in long rows 
running along two side walls, hang sixty-two 
portraits in oil, representing the viceroys 
who, for nearly three centuries, ruled Mexico, 



g6 A Short History of Mexico. 

— some well, some ill, most of them indiffer- 
ently. As the visitor examines these por- 
traits, he will be apt to conclude that the 
Spanish viceroys gave more attention to 
toilets than to government ; that the powder- 
ing of hair, the trimming of beards and 
moustachios, and the ruffling of lace collars, 
were more in their minds than the affairs of 
Mexico ; and that the portraits would be far 
more suggestive to a theatrical costumer than 
to an historian. Rich ecclesiastical garments 
are depicted in some of these portraits, for 
ten of the viceroys were prelates. It is be- 
cause two of the men whose portraits hang in 
this room held the responsible position of 
viceroy twice, that the number of viceroys 
in Mexico is usually given as sixty-four. 

There are some strong faces looking out 
from the dingy frames in these long rows of 
portraits, and among the sixty-two viceroys 
there were some strong characters. Most of 
them belonged to the Spanish nobility, and 
possessed long military or civic titles. Some 
have left enduring records of good or evil; 
but for the most part, archbishops, bishops, 
dukes, counts, and marquises, have left in 
Mexico only their names on the long list, — 
some, grotesque autographs attached to offi- 



The First Viceroy. 97 

cial documents, — and their portraits in the 
National Museum. Yet these long lines of 
portraits furnish the basis of nearly three 
centuries of the history of Mexico. 

The first of the viceroys was Don An- 
tonio de Mendoza, Conde de Tendilla y com- 
endador de SocuellanoSy who arrived in 1535. 
He had been distinguished in the wars in 
Spain against the Moors, and he won still 
greater distinction by his long, wise, and 
beneficent rule in Mexico. The record of 
his administration is the record of the ad- 
vancement of New Spain in arts, industries, 
material wealth, and the progress of coloniza- 
tion, commerce, mining, and manufactures. 
The year after his advent the first book 
printed in the New World was produced in 
the city of Mexico, from a printing-press im- 
ported by him from Spain. It was in 1536 
and 1537 that the school of Santiago-Tlatel- 
olco, and a school of music for natives, were 
founded by Pedro Gante, with the aid of the 
viceroy, upon the site now occupied by the 
military prison. 

The Count of Tendilla founded the mint 
for the production of silver and copper coins, 
but the copper coins met with no favor from 
the natives, and were in the year 1541 con- 

7 



98 A Short History of Mexico. 

signed by them to Lake Texcoco. Merino 
sheep were introduced into the country, and 
manufactories of cloth estabhshed. The rich 
mine of La Luz was discovered in Guana- 
juato, which still produces immense wealth, 
and the mining town of Zacatecas was settled 
by the Spaniards. Two cities were founded 
by the Viceroy which are now beautiful State 
capitals, and rank among the more important 
cities of the republic. The first of these, 
Guadalajara, was founded in 1541. The cruel 
Auditor Guzman had attempted, in 1530, to 
found elsewhere a town, to which he gave the 
name of Villa del Espiritu Santo de Guadala- 
jara, in honor of his birthplace, and this was 
moved six years later; but being then in a 
place distasteful to the inhabitants and ex- 
posed to the incursions of hostile Indians, it 
was by the viceroy's orders removed to and 
established in a valley formerly called Ate- 
maxac, where it now stands. The other city 
was Valladolid, so called in honor of the 
viceroy, whose birthplace was Valladolid in 
Spain. The name was changed in the pres- 
ent century to Morelia, to do honor to one of 
whom the republic was proud. 

The Viceroy brought to justice the notori- 
ous Nuno de Guzman, the president of the 



Bartoloineo de las Casas. 99 

First Audience. He was incarcerated in the 
common prison at the capital. The oppres- 
sion of Indian slaves under the iniquitous 
system of repartiniientos, begun in the time of 
the military governors, led to a conspiracy 
against the Spanish authorities in 1549. 
Doubtless the viceroy acted according to 
his ideas of duty in having the leaders of 
the insurrection hanged after suppressing the 
trouble, though we cannot repress our sym- 
pathies for the down-trodden slaves of Mex- 
ico, the victims of Spanish rapacity. 

For three years of the administration of 
the Count of Tendilla, the name of one of the 
most remarkable men of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, and one of the stanchest friends of the 
oppressed Indians, has its place in the history 
of Mexico. There hangs in one of the gal- 
leries of the San Carlos Academy, in the city 
of Mexico, a superb painting by Felix Parra, 
entitled "Las Casas Defendiendo Los Indios" 
(" Las Casas Protecting the Indians "). It 
has more than a local reputation, for it was 
exhibited at the New Orleans Exposition in 
1884, and attracted much attention. Barto- 
lomeo de Las Casas, of whose noble efforts 
to ameliorate the condition of the natives of 
the New World enslaved by the Spanish 



100 A Short History of Mexico. 

Conquerors this painting is such an appro- 
priate monument, arrived in Mexico as 
Bishop of Chiapas in the year 1544. He 
was then seventy years of age, and his repu- 
tation had been already gained by his steady 
efforts for more than thirty years to have 
aboHshed the vicious system of repartiini- 
entoSy whereby the natives of the West Indies 
and Mexico were distributed as slaves among 
the Spanish colonists. The honorable title 
of " Protector-General of the Indians " had 
been conferred upon him by the Spanish 
monarch. He had made the cause of the 
oppressed Indian his own, and by writing 
and personal application to the court of the 
Spanish sovereign, he had secured various 
concessions, none of which, however, proved 
effectual in wiping out the evil. | In coming 
to Mexico as Bishop of Chiapas, he crossed 
the Atlantic Ocean for the fifth time. But 
circumstances were wholly against him in 
Mexico, and after three years spent in fruit- 
less efforts to enforce his measures among 
the Spanish slaveholders, he returned to 
Spain to spend the remainder of his life in 
the seclusion of a Dominican monastery. He 
died at Madrid in 1566, at the age of ninety- 
two. 



Velasco, the Emaftcipator. loi 

In 1550 Mendoza, the Count of Tendilla, 
was promoted to the viceroyalty of Peru, and 
a worthy successor was found in Don Luis 
de Velasco, to whose name history has 
added the enviable title of " The Emanci- 
pator." His first official act was the emanci- 
pation of one hundred and fifty thousand 
Indian slaves working in the mines; and in 
connection with this act he was the author of 
a noble sentiment. It was uttered in reply 
to those who objected to this measure as im- 
pohtic, and destructive of the mining industry 
of New Spain. " Of more importance than 
all the mines in the world is the liberty of 
the Indians," said the emancipator, showing 
himself to have been an apt pupil of the 
noble Las Casas. He did not succeed, how- 
ever, in incorporating this principle upon the 
political code of New Spain, though the 
mining industries of the country seem not to 
have been materially injured by his act of 
emancipation. ^ For the mines of Fresnillo 
and Sombrerete were first worked in his time, 
and the invention by Bartolomeo de Medina 
of smelting by amalgamation, known as the 
patio process, was first applied in Pachuca. 
The reign of the second viceroy continued 
for fourteen years, and was beneficent. The 



I02 A Short History of Mexico. 

Santa Hermandad, a Spanish Institution of 
the former century, designed to suppress 
highway robbery, was introduced into New 
Spain ; the Chichimecan Indians in the 
neighborhood of Queretaro were subjugated 
by Fernando de Tapia, an Indian cacique; 
and the outposts of ChametH, San Miguel, 
and Durango were estabhshed. The Uni- 
versity of Mexico dates its rise from this 
time. Velasco was brought in contact with 
the water question, with which his son subse- 
quently had so much to do. An inundation 
of the capital in 1552 led him to direct the 
construction of the San Lazaro dike. 

Velasco, *' The Emancipator," died in 
Mexico in 1564. In the interim between his 
death and the arrival of his successor, the 
Audience, composed of Doctor Ceynos and 
others, governed New Spain, and found 
plenty to do in quelling a conspiracy headed 
by Don Martin Cortes, Marques del Valle, 
son of the Conqueror by his lawful wife. He 
was aided by Martin, the Conqueror's son by 
La Marina. The Marques del Valle gave a 
grand reception in his palace on the west 
side of the plaza (where now stands the 
Monte de Piedad), on San Hipollto's day, 
the anniversary of the final conquest of the 



A Conspiracy Frustrated. 103 

Aztec capital. The occasion was the bap- 
tism of his twin sons. While the festivities 
were in progress it was designed to kill all 
the Spanish authorities, overthrow the Span- 
ish rule in America, and elevate the Marques 
to the throne of New Spain. The plot was 
discovered in time to prevent its execution. 
The Marques and his accomplices, Martin, 
his half-brother, and Alonzo and Gil Gon- 
zales de Avila were imprisoned and sentenced 
to be hanged. The third viceroy, however, 
Don Gaston de Peralta, Marques de Fakes, 
arrived in 1566, and suspended the executions 
and sent the Marques del Valle to Spain. 
His property, which was confiscated, was sub- 
sequently restored. In 1568 a Royal Visitor, 
a man of ferocious character, Mufioz by 
name, arrived from Spain to investigate mat- 
ters pertaining to the conspiracy of the Cortes 
family. He sent so many persons to prison 
and to the scaffold, and otherwise so far in- 
fringed upon the prerogatives of the viceroy 
that the viceroy left the country in disgust. 
Mufioz was recalled to Spain and repri- 
manded by the King. Peralta vindicated 
himself of charges preferred against him 
by Mufioz and other enemies. 

With the fourth viceroy, Don Martin En- 



I04 A Short History of Mexico. 

riques de Almanza, who arrived in 1568, a 
tragic chapter in Mexican history opens. It 
was in 1571 that, according to a pious chron- 
icler of the Franciscan order, " the tribunal 
of the Inquisition, the strong fort and Mount 
of Zion, was founded in the city of Mexico ; " 
and though Almanza's responsibility for its 
establishment is not apparent upon the face 
of the records, history has given him the title 
of " The Inquisitor." 

In 1527 the Spanish Inquisition had been 
extended to Mexico, so far as the banishment 
of Jews and Moors from the country was 
concerned. Two years later a conference of 
notable men of New Spain, ecclesiastical and 
lay, was held, and it was decided to petition 
the Spanish king for the exercise of the Holy 
Office in the New World, as a safeguard 
against the introduction of heresies and evil 
customs into the country through the cor- 
sairs who infested the coast, or from the 
countries with which New Spain had com- 
mercial relations. In answer to this petition 
inquisitorial powers were conferred upon cer- 
tain persons in succession, and their presence 
in New Spain seems to have been effectual in 
keeping down flagrant heresies and open vio- 
lation of canon law for forty years. Mean- 



The Inquisition. 105 

while the Santa Hermandad — a sort of 
national police and civil inquisition — did 
much to preserve order in New Spain. It 
was by royal order dated i6th August, 1570, 
that Don Pedro Moya de Contreras was ap- 
pointed Inquisitor-General of New Spain, 
Guatemala, and the Philippine Islands, with 
headquarters in the city of Mexico. It was 
his arrival in the country the following year 
that marked the actual beginning of the work 
of the Holy Office in Mexico. His jurisdic- 
tion extended over all but the Indians. They 
were wisely exempted. 

A small monastery erected by the Domini- 
cans upon their arrival in the country in 
1526, but abandoned by them upon the 
erection of their new and commodious mon- 
astery in 1530, was adopted as the head- 
quarters of the Holy Office. It was shortly 
replaced by another and better building. A 
subsequent building upon the same site was 
erected in 1732. It was converted into the 
Medical School (Escuela de Medicina) in 
1854. 

A brasero, or quemadero (burning-place) 
was erected upon what is now the western 
end of the Alameda, but w^as then the western 
limit of the city, — the edge of a swamp, — 



io6 A Short History of Mexico, 

over which the ashes of victims might be 
strewn. But burning alive was resorted to 
only in cases of extreme offences. Strangu- 
lation in most cases preceded the burning 
of the victim. The auto de fe was attended 
with much pomp and ceremony, as in Spain. 
How many actually perished by means of the 
Inquisition is not known. A few notable 
autos de fe are mentioned in history. The 
first was in 1574. Twenty-one ''pestilent 
Lutherans " (probably meaning Protestants 
merely, without further attempting to classify 
them) were then burned. 

The Inquisition was intimately connected 
with the Dominican Order in Mexico, as else- 
where, and was a powerful factor in the 
politics of New Spain down to the time of its 
final overthrow in 18 15. 

In 1572 the Jesuits arrived in New Spain, 
and the following year the first stone of the 
magnificent cathedral now the centre of at- 
traction in the Mexican capital, was laid. 
That the former cathedral might continue in 
use while the new one was in process of erec- 
tion, the new was begun just north of the old. 
And as the old marked the site of the great 
teocalli of Tenochtitlan, that site may now 
be identified as directly in front of the pres- 



Colonization Advanced. loy 

ent cathedral, probably extending over a 
large portion of the main plaza, or Zocalo. 
More than a century elapsed before the 
cathedral was completed. 

A pest carried off two millions of Indians 
in the time of Almanza, and an inundation 
of the capital turned attention again to the 
necessity of taking steps to carry off the 
waters of the lakes which constantly threat- 
ened the city. It is a subject kept constantly 
before us in the times of the viceroys and 
even in later days. Almanza pushed coloni- 
zation so far north as to encounter savage 
Indians. 

The fourth viceroy was promoted to the 
viceroyalty of Peru in 1580. His successor, 
Don Lorenzo Juarez de Mendoza, Conde de 
Coruna, an affable and honorable man, died 
in July, 1582, having been in the country less 
than two years, and having accomplished 
nothing worthy of mention. 
V The, Inquisitor-General, Don Pedro Moya 
de Contreras, was, upon the death of Alonso 
de Montufar, advanced to the vacant arch- 
bishopric, and in 1584 (the Audience having 
taken control of affairs upon the death of 
Mendoza) he was made viceroy, and held 
ofifice long enough to give his portrait a 



io8 A Short History of Mexico, 

place on the walls of the National Museum. 
He was quickly recalled to Spain to become 
president of the Council of the Indies, and 
was succeeded by Don Alvaro Manrique de 
Zuniga, Marques de Villa Manrique, who ruled 
for five years, extending the commerce of 
Mexico with the East, but otherwise failing 
to distinguish himself. He was replaced in 
1590 by Don Luis de Velasco, the son of ''The 
Emancipator." He also ruled for five un- 
eventful years, and was promoted to the vice- 
royalty of Peru. A monument of Velasco 
the Second's reign exists in the Alameda of 
the Mexican capital, the eastern half of which 
was laid out by him. The growth of the city 
in that direction is thus shown. 

During this somewhat rapid succession of 
viceroys, explorations and colonization ex- 
tended as far north as New Mexico. In 1542 
the Spaniards are reported as having posses- 
sion of numerous pueblos in that portion of 
the country. A Franciscan friar, Agustin 
Ruiz, had settled at Paura, and introduced 
sheep into the country. Capt. Francisco de 
Leyva Bonillo discovered the mineral wealth 
of the territory and named it Nueva Mejico. 
Antonio Espejo went to the rescue of the 
good friar Ruiz who had fallen into the power 



The Count of Monterey. 109 

of unfriendly natives, and visited Zuni and 
Moqui, but meeting with a large number of 
warriors while on his way to Tiguex or Tigua 
(now Santa Fe), he had retired to the Pecos 
and Concha valleys. In 1585 Hum ana's ex- 
pedition resulted in the settlement of Paso 
del Norte. In 1595 Juan de Onate founded 
a colony near the junction of the Chama and 
Rio Grande, and about the same time Santa 
Fe was settled by the Europeans. It had 
been an Indian pueblo of some importance. 
Velasco the Second was succeeded by Don 
Gaspar de Zuniga y Acevedo, Conde de 
Monterey, and his administration extended 
into the seventeenth century. He pushed 
forward the explorations and colonizations 
begun by his predecessors. . He sent an ex- 
pedition under Sebastian Vizcayno along the 
Pacific coast in 1596, and another in 1602 
which reached a point two degrees north of 
Cape Mendocino on the coast of California. 
In honor of the viceroy, the Count of Mon- 
terey, the Californian coast was named Mon- 
terey. In Nueva Leon, the town of Monterey 
was founded and named also in his honor. 
Many settlements were made in New Mexico 
and in the year 1600 the City of Vera Cruz 
was, by royal order, removed to the spot 



no A Short History of Mexico. 

where it had been originally located by 
Cortes, and where it now stands. The vice- 
roy, Zuniga, was promoted to the government 
of Peru in 1603 and carried away with him 
the affection of the Mexicans. 

Missionary efforts kept pace with — in 
some cases even led — the colonizing expedi- 
tions which especially marked the history of 
New Spain in the sixteenth century. It is 
scarcely necessary to state that the wealth of 
Spain was already materially increased by 
her American colonies. 

Don Juan de Mendoza y Luna, Marques de 
Monies Claras^ was the tenth viceroy, suc- 
ceeding the Count of Monterey, and entering 
Mexico in October, 1603. The next year an 
inundation of the capital raised the question 
of the expediency of removing the city to the 
site of Tacubaya. N/Nothing was done, how- 
ever, further than the construction of various 
dikes and the reconstruction or enlarging of 
the calzadaSy or highways, of San Antonio 
Abad and Guadalupe, and the construction 
of the calzada of Chapultepec. The guar- 
dian of the Monastery of Santiago-Tlatelolco, 
Fray Juan de Torquemada, directed the con- 
struction of the calzada de Guadalupe. The 
causeway to Tacuba had been rebuilt soon 



The Subject of Drainage. 1 1 1 

after the Conquest, but under the Marquis of 
Montes Claros the aqueduct was constructed 
along this causeway by which water is now 
brought into the city from beyond Tres 
Graces, by the foot of Chapultepec, entering 
the city at Tlaxpana, and ending abruptly at 
San Cosme. 

Mexico seems at this time to have been 
but a training school for viceroys of Peru, 
and Juan de Mendoza y Luna passed on to 
that higher estate in 1607, being succeeded 
by Don Luis de Velasco, the son of " The 
Emancipator," who came the second time to 
rule over New Spain, this time with the title 
Marques de Salinas. He had resigned the 
government of Peru, to which he had been 
promoted in 1593, and had chosen Atzcapot- 
zalco as his residence. He resumed the reins 
of government in New Spain in time to grap- 
ple with the already ancient question of im- 
munity from inundation for the capital. He 
was a man of energy. He made a personal 
reconnoissance of the valley and arrived at 
the conclusion that by securing some means 
of egress beyond the mountain wall for the 
overflow of Lake Zumpango in times of ex- 
cessive rains (that being the highest of the 
lakes in the Mexican Valley), all further 



112 A Short His iorj; of Mexico. 

trouble could be obviated. He consulted 
with the Jesuit Juan Sanchez, and the en- 
gineer Enrico Martinez. The latter proposed 
what is now (1889) the subject of a contract, 
— the draining of the entire valley, the lowest 
and all the intermediate lakes, as well as the 
highest, — thus ending for all time the ques- 
tion which has so long vexed Mexico. It 
was not deemed advisable at that time to do 
more than construct a tunnel for the waters 
of Zumpango, and this work was entrusted to 
Martinez, and begun at Huehuetoca on the 
28th of December, 1608, in the presence of the 
viceroy. Fifteen thousand Indians were em- 
ployed, and worked to advantage by means 
of shafts and galleries, so that at the end of 
eleven months a tunnel was completed four 
miles in length, thirteen feet high, and eleven 
feet wide. This was, however, as we shall 
shordy see, but a single incident in the long 
history of the labors to render the City of 
Mexico safe from inundation, and leading up 
to that other question, that of draining the 
valley for the sanitary improvement of the 
city. 

v/ In 161 1 Velasco received the appointment 
of president of the Council of the Indies, 
and returned to Spain. He was succeeded 



Other Public Works. 113 

by the Archbishop of Mexico, Fray Garcia 
Guerra, who governed New Spain less than 
a year, when he died from the effects of a 
fall received when mounting his coach. The 
Audience took up the reins of government as 
he let them fall, and held them pending the 
appointment of his successor. And, as was 
usual with the Audiences in such cases, it was 
called upon to suppress a conspiracy. In 
consequence, thirty-two negroes were hanged 
in the great plaza in the year 161 2. The next 
year Don Diego Fernandez de Cordoba, 
Marques de Guadalcdzary arrived as the thir- 
teenth viceroy. He took an interest at once 
in the schemes for protecting the capital from 
inundation. Upon appHcation to the Spanish 
King, Adrian Boot, an engineer from Holland, 
was sent to inspect the drainage works of 
Martinez. He reported the tunnel insuffi- 
cient, and advised that dikes be built about 
Lake San Cristobal, on a lower level than 
Zumpango, to catch all the overflow from the 
higher lake in excessively rainy seasons. The 
dikes were to prevent its being precipitated 
upon the unfortunate city. They were ac- 
cordingly built. / 

< Under this viceroy the aqueduct to San 
Cosme was extended to Santa Isabel (the ex- 

8 



114 A Short History of Mexico. 

tension having since been taken down), and 
as then standing, consisted of nine hundred 
arches, and cost about $250,000. The Mar- 
quis of Guadalcazar was promoted to Peru in 
162 1, and the Audience assumed charge of 
public affairs until the arrival of Don Diego 
Carrillo Mendoza y Pimentel, Marques de 
Gelves, who had scarcely seated himself upon 
the viceregal throne before, in his efforts 
to rid Mexico of highwaymen, he became 
involved in serious disputes with the Arch- 
bishop, Juan Perez de la Serna. Both were 
hot-headed Spaniards, and the trouble arose 
over the arrest of a robber who had sought 
" sanctuary " in the Church of Santo Do- 
mingo. The viceroy decreed the deposition 
and banishment of the Archbishop, and the 
Archbishop retorted by excommunicating the 
viceroy. The populace took up the matter. 
The partisans of the ecclesiastic assaulted and 
attempted to burn the viceregal palace ; but 
the viceroy made his escape, — himself seek- 
ing the privileges of " sanctuary " until the 
way was open for him to return to Spain. 
The Archbishop was also recalled. This was 
in 1624. Don Rodrigo Pacheco y Osorio, 
Marques de Cerralvo^ was appointed viceroy, 
and with him came to Mexico a famous 



The Great Inundation. 115 

inquisitor of Valladolid, Martin Carrillo, with 
authority to punish the participants in the 
commotions of the previous administration. 

And now had come the time for testing the 
respective merits of the engineering schemes 
of Enrico Martinez and Adrian Boot. In 
1629 the rainy season set in with unusual vio- 
lence. On the 29th of June Martinez, either 
to prevent the destruction of his work, or 
through pique at the popular criticism of it, 
or through spite at having the suggestions of 
an engineer from Holland preferred to his, 
closed the mouth of his tunnel. Zumpango 
accordingly overflowed into San Cristobal, and 
the latter lake overflowed the dikes, and in a 
short time the streets of Mexico were three 
feet under water ; and thus they remained for 
three years, Martinez spending that time in 
prison. It would be impossible to picture 
the results of this inundation. Many edifices 
sufl'ered total destruction. The population of 
the city (it had been estimated at 15,000 in 
the year 1600) was decreased by the death of 
three thousand Indians and the removal of 
nearly all the European families. The courts 
and local legislative bodies suspended their 
sittings, churches were abandoned, and the 
mass was celebrated on the balconies and 



Ii6 A Short History of Mexico, 

housetops. People moved from place to 
place in canoes. The city really became what 
it had been called before the Conquest, " the 
American Venice." Its removal to the high 
ground between Tacuba and Tacubaya was 
again discussed, and it has been stated that 
a royal edict was procured directing the re- 
moval. But in 1632 the waters subsided, and 
the royal edict (if any there were) w^as sup- 
pressed. It was estimated that the cost of 
the removal would have been $50,000,000. 
In 1634 the fearful scenes of 1629, 1630, and 
1 63 1, were repeated to some extent. But 
after the rainy season of that year earth- 
quakes opened rents in the ground which 
caused the rapid subsidence of the waters. 
Martinez was released from prison and com- 
manded to employ such measures as would 
prevent any further inundation of the capital. 
He reopened his tunnel, and so far made 
concessions to his Holland rival as to rebuild 
the dikes about San Cristobal as they remain 
to-day, — two in number, two miles and three 
quarters, and a mile and a half in length, re- 
spectively, and eight or ten feet high by 
twenty-eight feet wide. The tunnel has a 
further history. 

The Marquis of Cerralvo was succeeded 



The Bishop of Puebla. \\j 

in 1635 by Don Lope Diaz de Armen- 
dariz, Marques de Cadareita. Beyond the 
founding of the city of Cadareita in Nueva 
Leon, the government of this, the sixteenth 
Viceroy was marked by no events worthy of 
mention. He was just and moderate in his 
measures, and when recalled to Spain he was 
made bishop of Badajoz. He was succeeded 
in 1640 by Don Diego Lopez Pacheco 
Cabrera y Bobadillo, Duque de Escalona y 
Marques de Villena. Only one event of im- 
portance occurred during the brief rule of 
this viceroy ; that was the burning of the 
buildings on the Cortes estate,' west of the 
plaza, in what is called the Empedradillo, 
where now stands the Monte de Piedad. 

The viceroy was the victim of the suspi- 
cions of the Bishop of Puebla, who had come 
with him to Mexico. The Bishop had him 
deposed and sent to Spain on a charge of 
plotting against the King; and the Bishop 
himself, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, more in 
the capacity of Royal Visitor than as vice- 
roy, though he is numbered among the vice- 
roys, ruled New Spain for about five months. 
In that time he managed to destroy many of 
the idols that had been preserved in various 
parts of the city as trophies and souvenirs of 



1 1 8 A Short History of Mexico. 

the Conquest, therein following the example 
of Zumarraga, the first Bishop of Mexico. 
Palafox was a man of learning, but ambi- 
tious and turbulent. He was superseded, in 
1642, by Don Garcia Sarmiento Sotomayor, 
Conde de Salvatien^a, who in 1643 founded 
the city of Salvatierra in the State of Micho- 
acan (now in the State of Guanajuato). A 
series of notable aittos de fe^ held in the years 
1646, 1647, ^1^*^ 1648, were the distinguishing 
feature of his time, — a famous victim being 
Martin de Villancencio, called the Garatuza. 
When in 1648 Sotomayor was promoted to 
Peru, he left Mexican affairs in the hands of 
Marcos Lopez de Torres y Rueda, Bishop 
of Yucatan, who, though taking the title of 
Governor of Mexico, is numbered among the 
Viceroys. By the continuation of the annual 
autos de fe, established in the reign of his 
predecessor, he gained a reputation for ex- 
treme cruelty. Fourteen or fifteen persons 
are known to have been strangled or burned 
by the Holy Office in 1649, — among them 
a personage named Tomas Trevino, whose 
crime was that he had "cursed the Holy Of- 
fice and also the Pope." Death put an end 
to the rule of the Bishop of Yucatan in 
1650, and he was succeeded by Don Luis En- 



A Group of Viceroys. 119 

riquez de Guzman, Conde de Alba de Liste, 
who was in 1653 promoted to the Peruvian 
viceroyalty. His successor was Don Fran- 
cisco Fernandez de la Cueva, Duque de Al- 
biiquerqtce, the annals of whose rule comprise 
two events, — the execution of many rob- 
bers in 1659, ^^^ ^^ attack made upon the 
life of the viceroy in the Cathedral by a 
soldier, who was supposed to be insane, but 
was nevertheless hanged within twenty-four 
hours. The viceroy left shortly afterwards 
for Spain. It was to a later Duke of Albu- 
querque that the New-Mexican town owes its 
foundation and its name. 

Few events mark the history of Mexico for 
several succeeding years. Don Juan de Leiva 
y de la Cerda, Marques de Leiva y de La- 
brada, y Conde de Banos, was the twenty- 
third Viceroy. His administration (1660-1664) 
was unpopular on account of the disreputa- 
ble character of his sons, and his recall was 
thereby obtained. He was succeeded by 
Diego Osorio Escobar y Llamas, Bishop of 
Puebla, who ruled from June to October, 1664, 
when Don Sebastian de Toledo, Marques 
de Mancera, became viceroy. His rule was 
continued three years beyond the usual pe- 
riod (1664-1673), — proof that it was accept- 



120 A Short History of Mexico. 

able, at least to the Spanish government. 
He was succeeded by Don Pedro Nuno Colon 
de Portugal y Castro, Dttque de Veraguas, y 
Marques de Jamaica, a descendant of Chris- 
topher Columbus. He was a very old man, 
and lived only six days after taking posses- 
sion of his office. It was in 1667 that the 
great Cathedral, almost a century having 
been spent upon its construction, was com- 
pleted (with the exception of the two towers) 
and consecrated. The sacristy had been com- 
pleted in 1626, and services were held therein 
for fifteen years. The cost of the building 
up to the time of the consecration was one 
and two thirds millions. The two towers 
were completed in 1791. 

Upon the death of Nuno Colon, Fray Payo 
Enriquez de Rivera, Archbishop of Mex- 
ico, a descendant of Cortes by the female 
line, became viceroy. He was beneficent and 
just, in every way exemplary and progressive. 
He rebuilt the viceregal palace, paved many 
of the streets of the capital, built bridges and 
aceqjiias, introduced w^ater into the town of 
Guadalupe by means of an aqueduct, and 
constructed a stone causeway into that reli- 
gious town, — that along which now runs the 
railway to Vera Cruz. Numismatists will be 



The Man with the Silver Arm. 121 

interested in knowing that in 1675 the Mexi- 
can mint began the coining of gold. At the 
end of six years (1679) the good Archbishop, 
tired of the cares of government in Mexico, 
civil and ecclesiastical, resigned and went to 
Spain, where he was appointed Bishop of 
Cuenca and President of the Council of the 
Indies. But despite these honors he retired 
to a monastery, and ended his life there. 

His successor was Don Tomas Antonio 
Manrique de la Cerda, Marques de la Laguna, 
y Conde de Paredes. His reign is marked by 
the sack of Vera Cruz by the famous pirate, 
Agramont, and by the colonization of Texas 
and CaHfornia. In 1686 the Marquis of la 
Laguna laid down the reins of government 
and returned to Spain, where he died twenty 
days after his arrival. His successor, Don 
Melchor Portocarrero Laso de la Vega, 
Conde de Monclova, is known as " the man 
with the silver arm," because, having lost 
his right arm in battle, its place was sup- 
plied by one of silver. He gave his atten- 
tion to the colonization of Coahuila, and 
was the founder and namesake of the town 
of Monclova. He began the construction, at 
his own expense, of the aqueduct which 
brings the water from Chapultepec to Salto 



122 A Short History of Mexico. 

del Agua along the ancient route. Such 
public-spirited generosity as he evinced in 
this was not unusual at this period, as we 
shall see. It attests the immense means at 
the disposal of the viceroys. The salary of 
the office at that time was $40,000 annually, 
and it was afterwards increased to $70,000. 

The Duke of Monclova was translated to 
Peru in 1689, and was succeeded by Don 
Caspar de la Cerda Sandoval Silva y Men- 
doza, Coride de Galve. A notable insurrec- 
tion, growing out of the scarcity of corn, 
occurred in 1692. An Indian woman buying 
corn, the price of which was very high, had 
an altercation with the vendor, who was a 
mulatto. The mulatto struck her and she 
died. The friends of the murdered woman 
took her remains to Santiago-Tlatelolco, 
where there was little difficulty in inciting an 
uprising of the Indians. In a short time a 
force of two hundred Indians surrounded the 
viceregal palace, and demanded an interview 
with the viceroy and the Archbishop. Fail- 
ing to accomplish their purpose, they began 
to stone the doors and balconies of the pal- 
ace. The number of the insurgents increased 
hourly; piling up the wooden stalls of the 
market-place about the building, they set fire 



Instirrections. 123 

to them, and the palace and other buildings 
were damaged to the extent of three mil- 
lions of dollars. Some of the public archives 
were destroyed. The Viceroy and his family 
sought refuge in the Convent of San Fran- 
cisco. The mob was finally quelled by the 
efforts of the clergy. The same year the 
Indians of Tlaxcala rose in revolt, and there 
was a tumult in Guadalajara over the scarcity 
of provisions. The Count of Galve accom- 
plished the conquest of Texas (1691), and 
completed the conquest of New Mexico. He 
also founded, what is now an important town 
of the United States, Pensacola, Florida. 

In 1696 the Count of Galve was succeeded 
by Juan de Ortega Montanes, Bishop of 
MIchoacan, who administered civil affairs for 
a few months only, during which time the 
students of the University made a tumult, 
running about the streets and crying, ''Death 
to the Cathedraticos ! " — a precursor of the 
opposition to ecclesiastical influence in civil 
affairs which was destined to play such a 
prominent part in the subsequent history 
of Mexico. The students did no further 
damage than burn the pagoda or kiosk in 
the plaza. 

The Michoacan Bishop was succeeded by 



124 A Short History of Mexico. . 

Don Jose Sarmiento Valladares, Co?tde de 
Moctezwna y de Tula, whose wife was the 
third Countess of Moctezuma, and the great- 
great-grand-niece of the Chief-of-Men Motec- 
zuma II. The disturbances over the scarcity 
of corn continued, and in 1697 an auto de fi 
was celebrated, in which a gentleman named 
Fernando de Molina was burned. The reign 
of the Count of Moctezuma extended to the 
second year of the eighteenth century. 

The reigning sovereigns of Spain during 
the viceregal period thus far, were Charles V. 
(Charles I. of Spain), Philip II., Philip III., 
PhiHp IV., and Charles II. of the House of 
Austria. In 1700, by the death of Charles II., 
a change of dynasty occurred, — the throne 
passed to the House of Bourbon. The next 
occupant of the throne was Philip V. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Viceroys of the Eighteenth Century. 

Viceroys of the eighteenth century. — Founding of San Antonio. 
The Mexican Gazette. — Another prelate viceroy. — The Virgin 
of Guadalupe made patroness of the Indians. — The Cosmog- 
rapher of New Spain. — Short but energetic administration of 
the Governor of Cuba. — Expulsion of the Jesuits. — Chapulte- 
pec rebuilt. — Another Archbishop of Mexico, viceroy. — Manuel 
Antonio Flores, the soldier. — The second Count of Revillagegido. 
— His energy and eccentricity. — Cleansing of the Capital. — 
Discovery of Relics. — The Marquis of Branciforte. — Encour- 
agement of Art. — The San Carlos Academy. — Tolsa, the 
Sculptor and Architect. — The Statue of Carlos IV. — Its 
History. — Miguel Jose de Azanza, the Bonapartist. 

UPON the retirement of the Count of 
Moctezuma, the Bishop of Michoacan, 
Juan de Ortega Montanes for the second 
time undertook the management of civil 
affairs in New Spain, and held the position 
of viceroy a little over a year. He was then 
succeeded by Don Francisco Fernandez de 
la Cueva Enriquez, Duqtie de Albtcquerque 
y Marques de Ctiellar, the founder of the now 
important New-Mexican town of Albuquer- 
que, and its namesake. It was in 1709 that 



126 A Short Histojy of Mexico. 

the Collegiate Church of Guadalupe was 
completed and consecrated. 

In 171 1 the Duke of Albuquerque was 
succeeded by Don Fernando Alencastre No- 
rona y Silva, D^tque de Linares. This vice- 
roy established the tribunal of the Acordada 
to apprehend robbers; he continued, as far 
as Belen, the aqueduct begun by the vice- 
roy, the Count of Monclova, and founded the 
town of Linares, in Nuevo Leon. He was 
succeeded in 1 716 by Don Baltasar de Zun- 
iga Guzman Sotomayor y Mendoza, Duque 
de Arion y Marques de Valero^ who seems to 
have made an attempt to comprehend in 
his own cognomen as many of the names of 
his predecessors as was convenient. This 
viceroy was the benefactor of Queretaro, 
supplying that town with water by means 
of a noble aqueduct, still standing and in 
use, two miles in length, supported upon 
handsome arches, some of them ninety feet 
high. This aqueduct is connected by a tun- 
nel with a natural reservoir five miles from 
the towne A statue of the Marquis of Valero, 
now shattered by balls thrown by the Re- 
publican cannon in the siege of Queretaro in 
1867, adorns the plaza of that town. The 
building of the Teatro Principal in the Calle 



The Virgin of Guadalupe. 127 

Coliseo in the capital, and the completion of 
the Church of the Profesa, at the cost of pri- 
vate parties, belong to this period. 

The rule of the successor of the Marquis 
of Valero, Don Juan de Acuna, Marques de 
Casafuerte, beginning in 1722 and continuing 
for twelve years, was marked by the correc- 
tion of many abuses, and the exercise of 
much prudence in all departments of the gov- 
ernment of New Spain. He was a native of 
Lima, Peru, and a man of energy and of 
honor. A newspaper named the Gaceta de 
Mexico (Mexican Gazette) was begun during 
his administration, and continued publication 
until the year 1807. The town of San An- 
tonio de Bexar, now an important city of 
Texas, may trace its history back to this 
period. The Marquis of Casafuerte died in 
office in 1734, leaving a part of his wealth to 
public works and objects of benevolence. 
Upon his death the Archbishop of Mexico, 
Juan Antonio de Vizarron y Eguiarreta, 
assumed charge of the affairs of New Spain. 
It was in his reign that the Virgin of Guada- 
lupe was officially declared by the ecclesi- 
astical authorities of the church in Mexico, 
the patroness of the Mexican Indians, in 
recognition of her protection during a plague 



128 A Short History of Mexico. 

which swept over the land in 1736. It 
was some time afterwards (1754) that she 
was by papal bull proclaimed the especial 
patroness of the Indians. The Archbishop's 
palace in Tacubaya was built by Vizarron. 
It is now the national observatory. The pre- 
late viceroy also began the church of San 
Fernando, in the capital, which still stands, 
though its adjoining monastery is in ruins. 

The Archbishop only claimed to hold 
office ad interim^ though his rule extended 
over six years. In 1740 he delivered over 
the office of viceroy to the appointee of the 
crown, Don Pedro de Castro Figueroa y 
Salazar, Duqite de la Conquista y Marques 
de Gracia Realy whose brief administration 
was devoted principally to the fortification of 
the castle of San Juan de Ulua, which had 
been built more than a century previously, 
and is now a strong fortress, and used also as 
a prison. The Duke of the Conquest died 
a year after his arrival, and (the Audience 
conducting the affairs of government for a 
while) was succeeded in 1742 by Don Pedro 
Cebrian y Agustin, Conde de Fuenclaray 
whose monuments are the calzada de San 
Antonio Abad and the colonies of Nueva 
Santander, now Tamaulipas. Pirates burned 



Population of the Capital. 129 

the town of Champoton in Yucatan, and a 
valuable cargo of silver and gold (more than 
$2,000,000), derived by Mexico from its trade 
with China, fell into the hands of the English 
admiral Anson. The first efforts to obtain 
correct geographical and statistical knowl- 
edge of Mexico dates from a decree of PhiHp 
v., in 1 741, directing Jose Antonio Villase- 
nor y Sanchez, as " Cosmographer of New 
Spain," to collect and digest the necessary 
data. As a result of his labors, the popula- 
tion of the city of Mexico is given in the year 
1747 as 50,000 famihes of Spaniards, Euro- 
peans and Creoles, 40,000 mestizos., mulattoes, 
and negroes, and 8,000 native Indians. 

The Count of Fuenclara was succeeded in 
1746 by Don Juan Francisco de Guemes y 
Horcasitas, primer Conde de Revillagegido, 
who managed both to increase the wealth of 
the country and make an immense fortune 
for himself during his thirteen years in New 
Spain, notwithstanding famines which pre- 
vailed in Zacatecas and Guadalajara part of 
this time, owing to the failure of the corn 
crop. 

The fortieth viceroy, arriving in the coun- 
try in 1755, was Don Agustin de Ahumada 
y YiWdlon, Marqties de las Amarillas, an hon- 

9 



130 A Short History of Mexico. 

orable man, who, before he had been five 
years in the land, was stricken with paralysis 
and went to Cuernavaca to recover his health. 
He died there in 1760, and it is considered 
worthy of remark that he left his widow poor. 
The Audience took charge of the government 
until the arrival of a successor, Don Fran- 
cisco Cajigal de la Vega, ex-Governor of 
Cuba, who, though holding the office for 
only about six months, by giving his attention 
to matters directly within sight of his palace, 
was able to do much towards the improve- 
ment of the capital. He was succeeded the 
same year (1760) by Don Joaquin de Mon- 
serrat. Marques de Cruillas, The principal 
event of his rule was an inundation in 
Guanajuato, followed by a sack of the city 
by the lower classes and the loss of much 
property. The Marquis of Cruillas was the 
first to organize a standing army in Mexico, 
and he ordered the houses in the city of 
Mexico to be numbered ; but whether he is 
responsible for the present execrable system 
of numbering in that city or not is uncertain. 
After six years the Marquis of Cruillas 
was succeeded by Don Carlos de Croix, 
Marques de Croix, whose rule was filled with 
significant events. He greatly improved the 



Expulsion of the Jesuits. 131 

capital, increased the Alameda to its present 
size, and increased the revenues of the gov- 
ernment by a tax on tobacco. He issued a 
decree that the Spanish language should 
everywhere be spoken in Mexico, — but with 
what effect may easily be imagined. It was 
during his reign that Archbishop Lorenzana 
presided over the Fourth '' General " Council 
of Mexico, in which action was taken closely 
resembling the Alt-Catholic movement of a 
little more than a century later. But the 
greatest event of his administration was the 
sudden imprisonment by the Marquis of 
Croix, In June, 1767, of all the Jesuits in 
New Spain, and the confiscation of their 
goods. This was under a decree of the Span- 
ish Cortes. The order of Jesuits was rich in 
haciendas and city houses. The Jesuits wxre 
subsequently expelled the country. Many 
of them died of vomito in Vera Cruz on the 
way. Others reached Habana, and finally 
Italy. Among them was the famous historian 
Clavigero. The Marquis of Croix carried 
with him to Spain in 1771 the good-will of 
the people of Mexico, despite his attempts to 
force a strange language upon some of them, 
and his firmness in executing the mandates 
of the Spanish Cortes against the Jesuits. His 



132 A Short History of Mexico, 

successor was Don Antonio Maria de Bu- 
careli y Ursua, Bailio de la Orderi de San 
yuan^ and Lieutenant- General of the Army 
of Spain. 

Various monuments to the energetic and 
beneficent rule of Bucareli are to be found in 
Mexico. There is a Paseo at the capital that 
bears his name. It was planned and exe- 
cuted by him, and was once beautiful, but is 
now abandoned and fallen into decay. The 
aqueduct from Chapultepec to Salto del 
Agua, heretofore referred to, was completed 
by him at his own cost. The castle of San 
Diego, in Acapulco, was built by him. There 
are several institutions existing in the capital 
to-day which took their rise at the time of his 
rule. The Monte de Piedad, founded in 1776 
by Pedro Romero de Terreros, Conde de 
Regla, the owner of the famous mines of 
Real Monte, is one of these. His purpose 
was to break up the usurious rates of the 
money-lenders, and to enable the poor to 
borrow money upon personal pledges. He 
endowed the establishment to the extent of 
$300,000. It is now an immense establish- 
ment, having survived many seasons of finan- 
cial depression. It is one of the most noted 
institutions of Mexico. 



Bucareli. 133 

The Real Tribunal de Mineria was founded 
in 1777 for the purpose of stimulating mining 
enterprises. It now exists as the Mineria, or 
School of Engineers, in one of the hand- 
somest buildings in the capital. The Found- 
ling Hospital (now known as La Cuna^ *' the 
cradle"), in the Puente de la Merced, whose 
actual founder was Archbishop Lorenzana, is 
another of these institutions. It is provided 
that all the foundlings taken under its care 
shall be legitimated for all civil purposes, and 
shall bear the much-revered name of Loren- 
zana as a surname. The Hospicio de Pobres 
(" the Poor Asylum "), on the Avenida 
Juarez, was opened in 1774 by royal order, 
but through the benevolence of Dr. Fer- 
nando Ortiz Cortes. 

Bucareli died in Mexico in 1779, and was 
buried in the Collegiate Church of Guada- 
lupe, to which he had given silver ornaments 
to the value of $1,000,000, still adorning that 
interior. A bronze slab in the floor of the 
west^aisle marks his resting-place and records 
his numerous virtues. He was the best of 
the Viceroys, and few of them have deserved 
the good that has been said of him. 

Don Martin Mayorga, the Governor of 
Guatemala, became provisional viceroy upon 



134 ^ Short History of Mexico. 

the death of Bucareli, and held the office 
until 1783, when Don Matias de Galvez, 
who had also been governor of Guatemala, 
became viceroy. His rule was brief, lasting 
from April, 1783, to November, 1784, and he 
was one of the few untitled viceroys, save 
that by his energetic conduct of public affairs 
in Mexico, he gained for himself the title of 
" the Diligent." He gave his attention to the 
improvement of the police and sanitation of 
the capital, cleansing the acequias, and pav- 
ing some of the streets. He obtained per- 
mission to rebuild the castle of Chapultepec, 
which had remained in ruins ever since the 
Conquest; but his death in November, 1784, 
cut short that work. After the Audience 
had administered affairs until January, 1785, 
his son, Don Bernardo Galvez, was made 
Viceroy, and carried to completion the work 
at Chapultepec at a cost of $300,000. He 
built also the calzadas de Piedad and San 
Agustin de las Cuevas, the latter running out 
to Tlalpam. A general famine, in conse- 
quence of severe snow-storms and the loss of 
grain, in the year 1784, was followed by a 
plague the ensuing year. The Viceroy died 
in the Archbishop's palace in Tacubaya, in 
November, 1786, and in May, 1787 (the 



Improvemeiits in the Capital. 135 

Audience assuming charge ad interim), 
Alonso Nunez de Haro y Peralta, Arch- 
bishop of Mexico, was placed in charge of 
the government in the capacity of viceroy 
and Captain-General, and continued in office 
until August of that year, no especial event 
marking his brief administration, save the 
opening of the hospital of San Andres. He 
was succeeded by Don Manuel Antonio 
Flores, who had been Governor of Bogota, 
and now assumed a sort of military gov- 
ernment in Mexico, whence he is called 
" Flores, the Soldier." He was succeeded, 
in October, 1 789, by one of the most ener- 
getic and best, albeit the most eccentric of 
the viceroys. 

With the administration of Don Juan Vi- 
cente de Guemes Pacheco de Padilla, segimdo 
Conde de Revillagegido , begins the history 
of what might be called " the modern city 
of Mexico." Before his time, despite the 
efforts of some of his predecessors, the city 
was filthy beyond description. The plaza 
was given up to the venders of tajnales, tor- 
tillas, and fruits. The streets were unpaved, 
unlighted at night, and infested with robbers. 
The second Count of Revillagegido gave to 
the capital his immediate attention; saw it 



136 A Short History of Mexico. 

cleansed, well policed, and its morality ad- 
vanced. The streets bearing his name, run- 
ning south from near the west end of the 
Alameda, are a lasting monument to his 
energy, and if the story regarding them be 
true, they furnish a fit illustration of the 
eccentricity of his methods. He was accus- 
tomed to patrol the city himself at night, and 
upon discovering anything amiss, to send for 
the responsible person, and have it rectified 
at once. He once entered a street which 
ended suddenly in the midst of some mean 
hovels. The Count at once sent for the 
proper official, and directed him to prepare 
an open street to the city walls, and have it 
ready for him to drive through on his way to 
mass the next morning. It was accordingly 
done. The Count was equally energetic in 
his management of affairs outside of the 
capital. He established weekly mails be- 
tween the capital and the principal military 
posts ; re-organized the militia ; advanced 
explorations as far north as Behring Straits ; 
corrected all abuses which came to his notice ; 
and that none might escape his attention, he 
placed a locked box in a public place, in 
which petitions, complaints, and other com- 
munications might be put, by means of an 



Aztec Relics Found. 137 

opening in the top. Thus there was no sub- 
ject who could not secure the attention of the 
viceroy. 

It was while the plaza in the capital was 
being cleansed, in 1790, that the so-called 
" calendar stone " now preserved in the Na- 
tional Museum was found. For many years 
it occupied a conspicuous place in the outer 
walls of the westerly tower of the great 
cathedral. Its removal to the Museum oc- 
curred in 1885. In 1791, in excavating a 
channel for a sewer running to the Portal 
de Mercaderes, the sacrificial stone was dis- 
covered. 

The Count of Revillagegido was calumni- 
ated and persecuted, despite his integrity, 
energy, and wisdom, and retired from Mex- 
ico in disgust in 1794. He was succeeded 
by his chief calumniator, Don Miguel la 
Grua Talamanca, Marques de Branciforte, 
a native of Italy and a relative of Godoy, 
the favorite of the Spanish King. He was 
guilty of many acts of meanness, among 
which was his confiscation of the goods of 
the few French residents of New Spain under 
the shadow of an excuse, — the war between 
Spain and France. It is pleasant to learn 
that the accusations brought by him against 



138 A Short History of Mexico. 

Revillagegido were dismissed by the Council 
of the Indies. 

The rule of the Marques de Branciforte 
is noted for a remarkable encouragement 
given to Art in New Spain. The San Car- 
los Academy had already had several years 
of precarious existence. It had begun as a 
school of engraving, under the management 
of the engraver of the Mint, in 1779. Two 
years later it had been enlarged to include 
painting, sculpture, and architecture. In 1783 
royal sanction for the establishment was ob- 
tained, and still another two years elapsed 
before the Academia de las Nobles Artes de 
San Carlos de la Nueva Espana ('' the San 
Carlos Academy of Fine Arts in New Spain ") 
was formally opened. In 179 1 Don Manuel 
Tolsa was sent over to New Spain with a 
gift of casts from the antique, valued at 
$40,000. Tolsa was a very eminent archi- 
tect, and Mexico contains many specimens 
of his architectural skill. He designed the 
Mineria (the School of Engineers), and Bran- 
ciforte began its construction in 1797, and 
it was completed in 1 8 13 at a cost of over 
$1,500,000. Subsequently nearly $100,000 
were spent upon it in repairs necessitated by 
the settling of the foundation. 



The Carlos IV, Statue, 139 

The equestrian statue of Carlos IV., at 
the initial point of the Paseo de la Reforma, 
is more a monument to the interest taken by 
the viceroy, the Marquis of Branciforte, in 
art, than to the monarch whose name it bears 
and for whose memory Mexicans have little 
or no respect It is distinctly stated upon 
the pedestal on which it now stands that the 
statue is preserved solely " as a work of art.'* 
The Marquis of Branciforte procured royal 
permission in 1795 to have this statue made 
and set up in the plaza. The understanding 
was that the costs were to be defrayed by 
him personally, but they actually fell upon 
the municipality and some private parties. 
The design is that of Tolsa who was sculp- 
tor as well as architect. It has attracted the 
attention of eminent critics, and has been 
pronounced upon very high authority infe- 
rior only to the Marcus Aurelius at Rome as 
an equestrian statue. There is a tradition 
that Tolsa's death was caused by chagrin at 
hearing his work criticised by the people. It 
is true that he survived the completion of the 
work only a short time. The Marquis of 
Branciforte did not remain in New Spain 
long enough to see his work actually set up. 
And the subsequent history of this statue — 



140 A Short History of Mexico. 

the first important piece of bronze cast in the 
Western world — belongs to another period. 
Yet it seems best to recount it briefly here. 

The casting was the work of Don Salvador 
de la Vega who made his furnaces and moulds 
ready in the Gardens of San Gregorio College 
(now the School of Correction), spent two 
days in melting the metal (about thirty tons) 
and began filling the moulds at 6 A. M., the 
4th of August, i802. The statue came from 
the moulds without defect, and fourteen 
months were spent in finishing it. It was 
placed on a pedestal in the plaza in Novem- 
ber, 1803, and on the 9th of December un- 
veiled with great ceremony. It remained 
there until 1822. Then the feeling against 
Spain and everything Spanish was so bitter 
that fears were entertained that it might be 
destroyed. It was at first enclosed within a 
huge wooden globe, but two years later it 
was removed to XhQ patio of the University. 
In 1852 it was removed to its present posi- 
tion, and was subsequently made the initial 
point of the magnificient Paseo de la Re- 
forma. 

The conduct of the Marquis of Branci- 
forte, unpopular as it was in Mexico, excited 
the suspicion of the Spanish government also, 



The Bonapartist. 141 

and in May, 1798, he was succeeded by Don 
Miguel Jose de Azanza, whose rule ex- - 
tended for a few months into the present 
century. He was an honorable man and a 
good viceroy. A conspiracy was discovered 
and quelled in 1800, called ^^ los machetes,'' 
that marks the beginning of the hostilities 
between the Creoles (Americans of Spanish 
parentage) and the Europeans, — to ripen in 
the early years of the present century into a 
war for independence. Azanza and the Mar- 
quis de Branciforte, after their return to 
Spain, became the partisans of Joseph Bona- 
parte in the political affairs of Europe, and 
this has given to the last viceroy of the 
eighteenth century (who had no other title to 
distinction) the name of " The Bonapartist." 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Last Viceroys, and The Struggles 
FOR Independence. 

The Last Viceroys. — Felix Berenguer de Marquina. — Jose de 
Itiirrigaray, the Monarchist. — Pedro Garibay, the Revolutionist. 

— The Archbishop of Mexico becomes viceroy. — His energetic 
rule. — Premonitory symptoms of revolt. — Miguel Hidalgo y 
Costilla, the Father of Mexican Independence. — Plans for revolt. 

— Army of the Insurgents. — Attack upon Guanajuato. — Valla- 
dolid. — March towards the Capital. — Opposition of the Royal- 
ists. — Battle at Monte de las Cruces. — Mistake and Defeat of 
Hidalgo. — He raises another army. — Calleja del Rey in Guana- 
juato. — Hidalgo organizes his government. — Battle at Puente 
de Calderon. — Capture and Execution of Hidalgo. — The strug- 
gle for Independence revived by Rayon. — Morelos, and his 
military exploits. — The first Mexican Congress. — Declaration 
of Independence. — Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, the Cruel. — 
Execution of Matamoras. — First Mexican Constitution. — Cap- 
ture and Execution of Morelos. — Death of the Inquisition. — 
Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, the Unfortunate. — The Expedition of 
Mina. — Vicente Guerrero. — Agustin de Iturbide. — His 
schemes and movements. — Plan de Iguala. — Apodaca retires. 

— Francisco Novella. — The Independents triumph. — Juan 
O'Donoju, the last of the Viceroys. 

THE nineteenth century dawned upon New 
Spain with the clouds of war hovering 
over the country. The first viceroy of the 
new century (the fifty-fifth in the whole long 
list of viceroys) was Don Felix Berenguer 



Iturrigaray the Monarchist. 143 

de Marquina, Chief of the Squadron and 
ex-Governor of the Mariana Islands. Little 
of importance occurred during the rule of this 
naval officer, who seems to have been some- 
what Quixotic, for among other measures 
adopted by him was the suppression of bull- 
fights. He was called upon to put down an 
uprising of the Indians in Tepic, and also to 
deal with a fillibustering expedition across 
the northern border led by an American 
named Nolan. The leader of this expedition 
was taken prisoner and executed by the 
Spanish troops in 1802. The Spanish gov- 
ernment failed to approve all of the measures 
of Marquina, so he resigned in 1803 and 
was succeeded by Don Jose de Iturriga- 
ray, whose administration was an active one, 
but ended disastrously for him. He com- 
pleted the celebrated Puente del Rey (King's 
Bridge), now the Puente Nacional on the 
road from Vera Cruz to Jalapa; and was 
the patron of the celebrated architect of 
Celaya, Tresguerras, by whom was built the 
causeway and bridge over the Laja, whence 
Celaya takes its name. He organized a mi- 
litia, and so disposed the troops in towns 
along the coast as to resist such foreign 
agressions as were feared would result from 



144 A Shoi't History of Mexico. 

the declaration of war between England and 
Spain. He was a thorough economist, and 
encouraged home industry and the sale of 
home manufactures. And as proof of the 
prosperity of New Spain during his rule, it is 
mentioned that the Mint coined in 1805, in 
silver alone, more than $27,000,000, and that 
in 1806 Mexico sent $31,000 to the widows 
and orphans of the victims of the great battle 
of Trafalgar. His administration was marked 
by two autos de fe, wherein two priests who 
were the authors of irreligious books, were 
executed ; and it was at this time that Baron 
Von Humboldt resided in Mexico, in the 
house Calle de San Augustin, No. 3, marked 
by a tablet mentioning the fact. 

Iturrigaray dabbled somewhat in repairs 
to the celebrated Tajo de Nochistongo, But 
some of his economical measures excited 
the animosity of those who were not directly 
benefited thereby, and his administration 
was brought to an end on the night of the 
i6th of September (a noted date in Mexican 
history as we shall see), 1808, by an event 
that gave him the title of " The Monarchist." 
The Audiencia and some of the Spanish resi- 
dents believed (whether with or without cause 
seems still uncertain) that Iturrigaray, taking 



Pedro Garibay. 145 

advantage of the condition of Spain, weak- 
ened as it was by the invasion of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, and the absence of Ferdinand 
VII., was plotting to establish an indepen- 
dent monarchy in Mexico and to wear the 
crown thereof himself. A party of five 
hundred Spaniards, hastily organized, with 
Don Gabriel Yermo, a rich sugar planter, at 
the head, surrounded the viceregal palace, 
killed the guards, captured the viceroy and 
his family, took them first to San Juan de 
Ulua, and afterwards hastened them off to 
Spain as prisoners. It is alleged on behalf 
of '^ the Monarchist " that Yermo, in raising 
this opposition to the Viceroy, was actuated 
by purely personal motives. He wished to 
evade the payment of $200,000 borrowed 
from Iturrigaray. 

To the next viceroy, Don Pedro Garibay, 
historians have given the title " the Revolu- 
tionist." He was an old soldier who had 
made his career in Mexico, and was made 
viceroy by the Spanish insurgents who had 
deposed Iturrigaray. He was subservient to 
the Spaniards and sent all the money he 
could get from Mexico to aid the Spanish 
government in its troubles at home. His rule 
lasted but a short time, — September, 1808, 

10 



146 A Short History of Mexico. 

to July, 1809. The Spanish government, 
already fallen to pieces at home, was on 
the wane in Mexico. Ideas of an inde- 
pendent government, of *' home rule," had 
taken hold of various persons, and the sub- 
ject was being freely discussed. There were 
those who were not afraid to announce pub- 
licly that the cause of Independence awaited 
only a suitable leader. It was at this time 
that a mysterious murder occurred in the 
archiepiscopal palace in Mexico. It was 
that of a lawyer named Verdad, who has 
consequently been called the first chief and 
proto-martyr of Mexican independence. 

Upon the removal of Garibay, *' the Revo- 
lutionist," — in default of a monarch in Spain 
to appoint a successor, a ^' junta centraV 
requested Francisco Javier Lizana, Arch- 
bishop of Mexico, to assume the viceregal 
office. To devote himself to the functions 
of the civil office, Lizana gave into other 
hands his archiepiscopal and inquisitorial 
powers. He was in sympathy with the 
Creoles and exerted his influence in favor 
of the Independents, whose objects he sup- 
posed to be better government in Spain and 
Mexico. He had been concerned in the 
deposition of Iturrigaray, but subsequently 



Archbishop Liz ana. 147 

expressed his regret. He secured a loan of 
$3,000,000, two thirds of which he sent to 
Spain to aid in the war against Napoleon 
and the French. But he refused to honor 
other demands for $20,000,000 made by 
Spain upon the treasury of Mexico. He 
seized the property of the Duke of Terra- 
nova and the Marquis of Branciforte, ac- 
cused of being Bonapartists, publicly burned 
a proclamation of the Bonapartes, and gave 
orders to apprehend all who were involved in 
a conspiracy discovered in Valladolid (Mor- 
elia), one of the premonitory symptoms of 
the coming great revolt. The Archbishop 
was called to Spain the loth of May, 18 10, 
to answer charges made by the merchants 
of Cadiz. His removal was considered as 
disastrous to the Creoles and their cause. 
The government of New Spain thereupon 
/ devolved upon Don Pedro Catani, Presi- 
dent of the Audience, who is called the 
fifty-seventh viceroy. He exercised the 
functions of that office until the 14th of 
September, 18 10, when the new Viceroy, 
Don Fancisco Javier Venegas, ex-Governor 
of Cadiz, entered Mexico. Two days later 
the long-gathering storm burst over the 
country in all its fury. 



148 A Short History of Mexico. 

Their long-awaited leader suddenly ap- 
peared to the view of the discontented Mex- 
icans, in the person of el cura Miguel Hidalgo 
y Costilla, the priest in the little parish of 
Dolores, near Guanajuato. He was born 
the 8th of May, 1753, in poverty, and was 
educated for the Church in the school of 
San Nicolas in Valladolid. He afterwards 
became rector of the school. In 1779 he 
went to the capital, when he took holy or- 
ders and received the degree of Bachelor of 
Theology. He held various livings before 
becoming, on the death of his brother, 
cura of Dolores. He was a sort of uni- 
versal genius, pursuing a great variety of 
occupations, all bringing him in contact 
with the people, and gaining for him great 
popularity in and around Dolores. This 
was the man to whom has been given 
the title of "The Father of Mexican 
Independence." 

Hidalgo revealed to a chosen few his plans 
for an uprising of the natives and the over- 
throw of Spanish rule. He made Ignacio 
Allende, a native of San Miguel el Grande 
(now called in his honor San Miguel Al- 
lende), his trusted lieutenant in his schemes. 
The father of Allende was a Spaniard, his 



The Grito de Dolores. 149 

mother a Mexican. Although of good family 
and rich, he had devoted himself to the army 
and was captain of dragoons at thirty-one. 
Coming under the influence of Hidalgo, he 
heartily espoused the cause of Mexican In- 
dependence. He gained the confidence and 
adherence of two other officers of his regi- 
ment, Aldama and Abasalo. He was in cor- 
respondence with Independent clubs which, 
ostensibly as literary clubs, discussed the 
political situation in San Miguel and Quere- 
taro. It was the apprehension of one of 
these " clubs " and the arrest of its leader, 
Don Miguel Dominguez, corregidor of Quer- 
etaro, that precipitated the plans of Hidalgo. 
Awakened at two o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 1 6th of September, 18 10 (the 
day ever since regarded as the birthday of 
Mexican independence), either by Allende 
or Aldama, and advised that the club at 
Queretaro had been suppressed, and that its 
leader was in prison, and that imprisonment 
awaited him in a few hours unless he could 
save himself by battle or flight, Hidalgo 
sprang from bed, called his friends to his 
aid, and with ten armed men captured the 
prison of Dolores, liberated the prisoners, 
and armed them with swords. Then cele- 



150 A Short History of Mexico, 

brating the mass in his church he revealed 
his plans to all the countrymen as they came 
in. By these means by daybreak he had 
gathered about him a devoted body of men 
and had fired them with zeal for the inde- 
pendence of their country. All Spaniards 
in the village were secured and then the 
cura and his followers set out on the road 
to San Miguel. 

^ Allende's regiment swelled the band of 
patriots, which had increased in number on 
the way from Dolores to San Miguel. From 
this large mass Hidalgo organized his army, 
taking for himself the title of General, 
Allende being the Lieutenant-General. In 
passing the church of Atotonilco, the cura 
took therefrom a banner containing a picture 
of the Virgin of Guadalupe (the same ban- 
ner now preserved in the National Museum), 
and fixing it upon a lance adopted it as the 
flag of his army. It gave to the movement 
the additional enthusiasm to be derived from 
religion. Shouts of Viva la religion ! Viva 
nuestra Madre Santisima de Guadalupe I Viva 
la Afnerica y muera el mal gobierno I — '' Long 
live religion ! Long live our Most Holy 
Mother of Guadalupe ! Long live America, 
and death to bad government!" — rent the 



Route of the Insurgents, 151 

air. This is what now goes by the name 
of '* el grito de Dolores!'' 

The insurgents passed through Chamacuaro, 
and reached Celaya on the 21st of September. 
There a further organization was effected. By 
this time the followers of Hidalgo are said to 
have numbered between 50,000 and 60,000 
men, all filled with the enthusiasm of their 
leader. As may be imagined, they were 
wholly without discipline and were miser- 
ably equipped. It was decided to march 
first upon Guanajuato, and on the 25th the 
army was within sight of that rich city. An 
order was sent for its surrender, but the 
Spaniards gathered all their property to- 
gether and shut themselves up in the Castle 
Granaditas. The city was attacked, taken, 
sacked, and the people found therein put to 
the sword. It was with difficulty that Hi- 
dalgo restored order. He finally appointed a 
civil government in the city, and established 
an ordnance foundry and a mint. Thus 
Guanajuato became the capital of the em- 
bryo empire. 

On the loth of October the patriot priest 
set out with the greater part of his troops 
for Valladolid, arriving there on the i8th, 
without meeting any opposition on the road. 



152 A Short History of Mexico. 

He obliged the clergy of Valladolid to raise 
the excommunication levelled at him by the 
Bishop of Michoacan ; augmented his troops 
by a regiment of dragoons from Patzcuaro, 
and some of the provincial militia; arranged 
the civil government of the city; provided 
himself with supplies; and passed on towards 
the capital. Taking the road through Ac- 
ambaro, Maravatio, Tepetongo, Ixtlahuaca, 
and Toluca (practically the route of the 
Mexican National Railway between Morelia 
— as Valladolid is now called — and Toluca 
at the present day), Hidalgo arrived with a 
force estimated at 100,000 men at the Monte 
de las Cruces (near the station of Salazar), 
about one hundred and twenty-five miles 
from the city of Mexico. Camp was made 
there until the 2d of December. 

Meanwhile the Viceroy issued orders to 
the Spanish officers to concentrate and op- 
pose the Independents. The ecclesiastics 
of New Spain, for the most part partisans 
of the Spanish government, furbished up 
their spiritual weapons. The Spanish friars 
preached furious sermons ; and the Holy 
Office, always on the side of Spain, excom- 
municated Hidalgo and the most prominent 
of his companions, and only awaited a chance 



Monte de las Cruces. 153 

to lay hands upon him in order to otherwise 
punish him. But when the news of the tak- 
ing of Guanajuato and the approach of the 
insurgents reached the city of Mexico, it was 
seen that Hidalgo would have to be encoun- 
tered by carnal weapons. The people were 
seized with panic. Some placed their prop- 
erty in the convents for safe-keeping, and 
either fled or hid themselves. The Viceroy, 
Venegas, raised an army of three thousand 
men, well equipped and placed it under the 
command of Gen. Torcuato Trujillo. 

On the 30th of October, 18 10, the two ar- 
mies came into coUision at Monte de las 
Cruces, and a terrible battle ensued. Num- 
bers finally gained the day over better dis- 
cipline and equipment, and the army of the 
Viceroy was completely cut to pieces. Gen- 
eral Trujillo owed his own life to his excel- 
lent horse. 

Instead of following up the advantage thus 
gained and advancing to attack the capital, 
then in a defenceless state, — a measure which 
would in all probability have shortened the 
struggle for independence by ten years, — 
Hidalgo fell back toward Queretaro. Some 
of his soldiers deserted. The remainder en- 
countered at Aculco some Spanish troops 



154 A Short History of Mexico. 

raised in the interior, and a disastrous battle 
followed, resulting in the dispersion of the 
Independents. Allende went to Guanajuato, 
accompanied by six or eight of his adjutants. 
Hidalgo fled to Valladolid, with only a few 
of his men. There he raised another army 
of about six thousand men, and set out for 
Guadalajara. The Independents of the latter 
city were in arms, and, under Don Jose An- 
tonio Torres, had driven out the Spanish 
authorities. Hidalgo reached the city the 
latter part of November. Allende collected 
the troops in Guanajuato ; but the force not 
being sufficient to oppose the threatened 
attack of the Spanish commander-in-chief, 
Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, who had by that 
time a considerable body of well-organized 
troops, he evacuated the city, and hastened 
by way of Zacatecas to join Hidalgo in Gua- 
dalajara. He reached that city on the I2th 
December. 

Calleja del Rey, upon entering Guanajuato, 
began to punish the city for harboring the 
Independents. A friar of the order of San 
Diego, Padre Belaunzaran (afterward Bishop 
of Nuevo Leon), went out to meet the chief, 
and laying his hand upon the reins of his 
horse, commanded him in the name of Holy 



Puente de Calderon, 155 

Church to desist from the slaughter of the 
citizens. Calleja obeyed, but not before he 
had shot fifty of the Mexicans and impris- 
oned others. Valladolid, abandoned by Hi- 
dalgo, was occupied by the Royalists. 

In Guadalajara Hidalgo took steps to or- 
ganize a government, assuming for himself 
the title of Generalisimo, and naming a Min- 
ister of Grace and Justice and a Secretary of 
State. He sent also a commissioner to secure 
aid from the United States; but this officer 
fell into the hands of the Royalists. He 
issued decrees abolishing slavery, and tithes 
for the support of religious institutions, and 
somehow procured means to reorganize and 
equip his army and place himself in an offen- 
sive attitude. The Royalists, however, under 
Calleja, advanced upon Guadalajara, and com- 
pelled him to assume the defensive. As be- 
fore, they made up in discipline what they 
lacked in numbers. Hidalgo took up his 
position at Puente de Calderon, where was 
fought a bloody battle on the 17th of Janu- 
ary, 181 1. It is said that the insurgent army 
numbered again one hundred thousand men, 
and had ninety-five pieces of artillery under 
the command of Abasalo. The Royalists had 
not a tenth of that number of men, but sue- 



156 A Short History of Mexico. 

ceeded in accomplishing the complete dis- 
persion of the Independents. 

Hidalgo fled to Aguas Calientes, and meet- 
ing a division of Independent troops under 
Iriarte, went to Zacatecas. Allende joined 
him, and they started for the United States 
to recruit another army. On the 21st of 
March they were apprehended by a Spanish 
officer named Elizondo in a desert place in 
Coahuila, called Acatlta de Bajan, taken by 
a strong guard to Monclova, and afterward 
to Chihuahua, and imprisoned in the build- 
ing now used as the Mint. The room occu- 
pied by Hidalgo is still pointed out. A trial 
was had, and Hidalgo, Allende, and two 
other officers who had been apprehended, 
Aldama and Jimenez, were condemned to 
death. Hidalgo was shot in front of his 
prison (the spot is marked by an adobe mon- 
ument, without inscription), at seven o'clock 
in the morning of the 30th of July, 18 ri, 
and the others later in the same day. Their 
heads were cut off and placed upon pikes at 
the four corners of the Castle Granaditas in 
Guanajuato. It was years afterwards, and 
after the cause for which they had fought 
and died had triumphed, that the four heads 
were reverently brought to the capital and 



Jose Maria Morelos, 157 

deposited beneath the altar de los Reyes, in 
the apse of the great cathedral. 

Naturally the Spanish authorities supposed 
that with the victory of Puente de Calderon 
and the execution of the four great revolu- 
tionary leaders, the seeds of revolution had 
been wholly eradicated. But the old saying 
that " Revolutions never go backward " has 
seldom been better exemplified than in this 
case. The next leader to come forward was 
Ignacio Rayon, who had been placed by 
Allende in command of Saltillo. With a 
party of Independents he took possession 
of Zacatecas, and organized in Zitacuaro 
a junta, composed of himself as president 
and Jose Maria Liceaga and Jose Maria 
Morelos as members, for the regulation of 
the affairs of the Independents. Morelos 
was, next to Hidalgo, the greatest hero of 
the Revolution, and a man of even greater 
ability than Hidalgo. He too was a priest. 
He was a native of Valladolid, whose name 
has since been changed in his honor to Mo- 
relia. Born of very poor parents in 1765, 
no means were at hand for his education un- 
til he was thirty years of age, when he entered 
the College of San Nicolas, of which Hi- 
dalgo was then rector. Ambitious and pos- 



158 A Short History of Mexico. 

sessed of great natural ability, his progress 
was rapid, and he won for himself a name as 
a student and a man of honor. He was ad- 
mitted to holy orders, and was cura of two 
parishes when the Revolution of Hidalgo 
broke out. He followed his old school- 
master into the conflict, and by his advice 
took up his position in the neighborhood of 
Acapulco. Upon the fall of his chief in the 
North, he took the lead of the Independents 
in the South. He was possessed of more 
military genius than Hidalgo, and managed 
his campaigns with better success. He has 
been called " the hero of a hundred battles." 

His career as a revolutionary leader, briefly 
sketched, is as follows: On the 5th of De- 
cember, 181 1, Morelos made the Spanish 
officer, Musito, a prisoner, and ordered him 
shot, and then made a triumphant entry into 
Izucar, where he met the cura Mariano Mata- 
moras, another patriot priest. On the 17th 
Morelos repelled an assault made by Soto on 
Izucar, and on the 22d of January, 18 1 2, he 
defeated Porlier, who had come to destroy 
him. He captured the artillery and ammu- 
nition of Porlier, and in a short time he had 
swept the enemy from the country from Aca- 
pulco to Cuautla, and the viceroy was for a 



Movements of Morelos, 159 

while without forces or an officer willing to 
go out and meet him. 

With three thousand men Morelos pro- 
posed to advance upon the capital, and took 
up his position in Cuautla. He was be- 
sieged for sixty-two days by a Spanish force 
of double the number of men under him, 
which the viceroy at last succeeded in raising. 
The command was given to Calleja del Rey. 
The evacuation of the town by Morelos after 
his long and heroic defence is considered 
among the most glorious feats in his own his- 
tory and in that of his country. He went, 
after his escape from Cuautla, to Tehuacan, 
and in October, 18 12, attacked Orizaba, and 
captured it after a few hours of fighting, 
— whereby a large amount of supplies, esti- 
mated as worth fourteen million dollars, fell 
into his hands. In the mountains of Acult- 
zingo he met with reverses ; but he recruited 
his forces, amounting now to five thousand 
men, and on the 25 th of November took 
Oaxaca by storm. Returning then to the 
scene of his first military operations, he 
forced the surrender of Acapulco, after a 
long siege, on the 25th of August, 1813. 
This movement of Morelos has been much 
criticised. It was a mistake similar to that 



l6o A Short History of Mexico. 

made by Hidalgo when within easy reach of 
the capital. 

The next month Morelos took steps toward 
organizing the Independent Mexican govern- 
ment. He called a congress, which met at 
Chilpantzingo (in the present State of Guer- 
rero). Rayon was a deputy; so also was the 
historian Carlos Bustamente, with other dis- 
tinguished personages. This congress nomi- 
nated Morelos Captain-General ; abolished 
slavery, and imprisonment for debt ; declared 
the collection of tithes for the support of 
religious houses unlawful ; and on the i6th 
of November put forth a Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Mexico was declared forever free 
of Spanish control, with liberty to work out 
its own destiny, and with the Roman Catholic 
religion for its spiritual guidance. For the 
new nation the name of *'Anahuac" was 
chosen, in deference to the idea which then 
existed in the minds of the Mexicans of an 
Aztec empire bearing that name. The name, 
however, — which means *' near the water," 
— was applied to all the tribes who occupied 
the lake basin of the Mexican Valley. 

Before the promulgation of this Declara- 
tion of Mexican Independence, — namely, in 
February, 1813, — the Viceroy Venegas was 



Calleja del Rey^ the Cruel, i6i 

recalled to Spain, where he took the part of 
the Bonapartists, and was created Marquis 
of the Reunion. He was succeeded in Mex- 
ico by Gen. Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, 
who for the barbarity committed by him 
has been called by historians " the Cruel." 
He pursued the Independents with great en- 
ergy, and treated such as fell into his hands 
without mercy. Matamoras, after a career 
of bravery, was executed by his command on 
the 3d of February, 18 14, in Valladolid, and 
many other names were added to the list of 
martyrs to the cause of independence. The 
immediate effect of Calleja's sanguinary meas- 
ures was a more general uprising of the Mex- 
ican people. The entire country south of 
the capital was overrun by insurgents in little 
bands, under the commands of such leaders 
as Vicente Guerrero, Nicolas Bravo, Felix 
Fernandez (who afterwards called himself 
Guadalupe Victoria), Manuel de Mier y Te- 
ran, Ramon Rayon, and his brother Ignacio. 
These bands were so scattered as to make it 
difficult for the Royalists to suppress them. 

After the congress at Chilpantzingo Mo- 
relos attempted to establish a formal govern- 
ment in Valladolid. The city was in the 
hands of the Royalists under the command 

II 



1 62 A Short History of Mexico, 

of Agustin de Iturbide. Morelos with his 
troops came in sight of the city the 22d 
of December, 1 8 13. A detachment of his 
troops under Bravo and Galeana attacked the 
garita del Zapote, but was defeated, and Mo- 
relos was forced to retire to the hacienda del 
Chupio, and on the 15th of January, 1 814, 
the Independents were dispersed by an attack 
made by Iturbide at Paruaran. 

Morelos fled again to Acapulco, and there 
convened his congress. In Apatzingan, on 
the 22d of October, 1814, the first Mexican 
constitution was adopted. The Royalists, 
however, followed Morelos to Acapulco, and 
he with the congress and about one thou- 
sand men fled to Uruapan, and afterward to 
Tehuacan. Near the town of Texmalaca, 
on the 5th of November, 18 15, the Royalists 
and the Independents met in conflict. What 
might have been the issue of the conflict can 
only be guessed; but it was brought to an 
end by the treachery of a man named Car- 
ranco, serving in the army of Morelos. He 
betrayed his chief into the hands of the Span- 
ish officer Jose de la Concha. The *' hero 
of a hundred battles " was conducted a pris- 
oner to the city of Mexico. There his case 
was made to come before the Holy Office, 



Execution of Morelos. 163 

which having been suspended in June, 181 3, 
had been re-established on the 21st of Janu- 
ary, 1 8 14, to combat the spread of " revo- 
lutionary ideas " — political quite as much as 
rehgious — in Mexico. The last auto de fe 
was held on the 26th of November, 181 5. 
The priest Jose Maria Morelos was thereby 
condemned to do penance " in a penitent's 
dress " for being " an unconfessed heretic and 
an abettor of heretics, a profaner of the Holy 
Sacraments, a traitor to God, the King, and 
the Pope." He was then delivered over to 
the secular arm. He had refused to incul- 
pate any other persons in the crimes of which 
he was accused. He was taken to San Cris- 
tobal Ecatepec, where on the afternoon of 
the 2 1st or the morning of the 22d of Decem- 
ber, 18 1 5, he was shot. Francisco Rayon, a 
brother of the patriots Ignacio and Ramon 
Rayon, was shot about the same time in 
Ixtlahuaca. 

The Inquisition had no further opportunity 
to exercise its power in Mexico. It was 
finally suppressed by the decree of the Span* 
ish Cortes becoming operative in Mexico on 
the 31st of May, 1820, a short time only 
before the final overthrow of the Spanish 
dominion. In its very efforts to support the 



164 A Short History of Mexico. 

tottering Spanish authority it wrought its own 
destruction. In Its treatment of the hero Mo- 
relos alone it rendered itself so thoroughly 
odious to the people that it was impossible 
for them to rest until they had overthrown 
the government which used such a hated in- 
stitution to oppress its colonies. 

With the death of Morelos closed the 
second act in the great drama of Mexican 
Independence. The administration of Cal- 
leja del Rey lasted until the year 18 16. His 
cruelties continued until the end. Two wom- 
en of distinction fell under his displeasure 
and into his hands, and were imprisoned. 
One was the wife of Andres Quintana Roos, 
a member of the congress of Morelos; the 
other was the wife of the corregidor of Quere- 
taro, Miguel Dominguez, whose fall in 18 10 
had precipitated the /movement of Hidalgo. 
So the cause of Mexican Independence was 
not without its women martyrs. 

The succeeding viceroy, entering the city 
of Mexico on the 19th of September, 18 16, 
was Don Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, called by 
historians ** the Unfortunate," whose misfor- 
tune seems to have been that he was called 
upon to administer the government of Mex- 
ico for five years at a critical period, when 



Apodaca, the Unfortunate. 165 

the affairs of Spain were in a hopeless condi- 
tion at home, and when the cause of Inde- 
pendence in the New World was daily gaining 
strength, in despite of the loss of its greatest 
leader, and that he finally succumbed to the 
adverse circumstances which were all along 
too strong for him. It must be admitted 
that when the government first devolved 
upon Apodaca, the revolution seemed to be 
crushed. Following upon the death of Mo- 
relos were the defeat and surrender of one 
after another of the revolutionary leaders, — 
Manuel de Mier y Teran, Ramon Rayon, and 
Nicolas Bravo. Apodaca was at first dis- 
posed to be conciliatory, and some of the 
Independents accepted his offers of amnesty 
and laid down their arms. Some exiled 
themselves and became refugees in foreign 
lands. Others, however, retired to the moun- 
tains, and there ** kept alive the sacred fires 
of Independence and Liberty." Among 
these was Vicente Guerrero, with whom we 
shall have more to do hereafter. 

To this period belongs an incident not 
properly connected with the war for Inde- 
pendence, as it was the work of a foreigner, 
and intended to gratify his love of adventure 
rather than to better the condition of the 



1 66 A Short History of Mexico. 

Mexicans. Yet it is much lauded by Mexi- 
can writers as the most glorious of the pages 
of their nation's history, and is compared 
with the most famous exploits of the Spar- 
tans. This was the expedition of Mina. 
Francisco Javier Mina was a Navarrese who 
had been educated for the bar, but upon 
the invasion of his country by Napoleon 
Bonaparte had raised a band of patriots, and 
pursued a sort of irregular warfare in the 
mountains. He was subsequently placed in 
command of a province, and went to Madrid. 
But he was not in accord with Ferdinand VII., 
and attempted to incite a revolution. Being 
foiled, he escaped to England, where he 
met Mexican refugees, Mier y Teran among 
them, and arranged with them an expedi- 
tion to Mexico to aid the cause of the 
Independents. 

In April, 1817, with a small squadron and 
a handful of men Mina debarked in Santan- 
der, and marched to Soto la Marina. Here 
he issued a manifesto announcing the re-es- 
tablishment of the Spanish constitution, and 
constructed a fort in which to defend himself 
against the Royalists. He left therein one 
hundred of his men with artillery ; and with the 
rest of his small army, evading the vigilance 



Expedition of Mina, 167 

of the Royalists, he set out to join the Inde- 
pendent troops concentrated in the Bajio de 
Guanajuato. In May some of his men de- 
serted. They were Texan colonists, and re- 
turned to Texas, and he was left with only 
three hundred men. The force left at Soto 
la Marina was compelled to surrender, and 
among the prisoners taken by the Royal- 
ists was Padre Mier. Mina with his scanty 
troops encountered and defeated a force of 
seventeen hundred Royalists in the hacienda 
de Peotillos, and took four pieces of artillery, 
together with ammunition and provisions 
(June 8). The same month he captured the 
fort of Sombrero, and defeated the Royalists 
in San Juan de los Llanos, capturing two 
cannon, five hundred muskets, and many 
prisoners. At Jaral (in the State of San Luis 
Potosi) he captured the hacienda belonging 
to the Marquis of Moncado and one hundred 
and forty thousand dollars left behind by the 
marquis in his flight. 

The viceroy at last made up his mind that 
the astonishing stories that reached his ears 
of the advance of a new revolutionary chief 
were based upon facts, and awoke to the ne- 
cessity of taking steps to check the career 
of this new enemy. He raised an army in 



1 68 A Short History of Mexico. 

Queretaro, and placed it under the command 
of Linan, and sent him in pursuit of the rev- 
olutionary leader. Mina, however, continued 
to act upon the offensive, and planned an 
attack upon Leon; but upon its failure 
he retired to Sombrero, six leagues distant. 
Linan reinforced his army, advanced to Som- 
brero, and surrounded the fort. For nine 
days Mina and his men were without food 
or water; but on the 19th of August, 1 817, 
the plucky Navarrese made a sortie, and es- 
caped to San Gregorio with one hundred of 
his men, the rest of his army being cut to 
pieces. He was again besieged in San Gre- 
gorio, and again cut his way through the 
Royahst army; and going by way of Bajio 
he took San Luis de la Paz and the La Luz 
mines, captured Guari'ajuato, and mustering 
some cavalry went to the ranch of Venadito. 
There he was assaulted on the 27th of Octo- 
ber, and after a desperate defence was made 
prisoner. He was conducted to San Gre- 
gorio, and executed on the I ith November, 
1817. 

The capture of Mina was celebrated at the 
capital with illuminations and pubHc rejoic- 
ings, and gained for the Viceroy the title 
Conde del Venadito. The same month Rayon 



Vicefite Guerrero. 169 

and his whole family were taken prisoner at 
Patambo, and were not released until three 
years subsequently. The Royalists did not 
succeed until the early part of the year 18 18 
in getting final possession of the forts which 
had been occupied by Mina's men. 

The principal revolutionary leader remain- 
ing in the country when the year 1818 opened 
was Vicente Guerrero. He was born of 
humble parents in Tixtla in the year 1782 
and in his youth engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. He joined the revolutionary army 
in October, 18 10, and the next year fought 
under Morelos. In 18 12 he was already dis- 
tinguished for his energy and bravery, and 
likewise for his clemency to the conquered. 
He saw all the ups and downs of military life 
but was never discouraged. In March, 181 8, 
he saw all the revolutionary organizations 
dispersed and the war apparently at an end, 
yet in September he gained two victories 
over the Spanish troops and the following 
month was able to collect the scattered revo- 
lutionary forces and reorganize the Independ- 
ents. The next year he carried on a desultory 
but annoying war, winning about twenty 
battles of more or less importance. 

Coming at the end of a long series of revo- 



I^O A Short History of Mexico, 

lutionary movements, although he had made 
a more modest beginning than any of the 
others, it was clearly seen by the wiser men 
of the country, both Spanish and Mexicans, 
that the movements of Guerrero were to be 
fraught with greater consequences to New 
Spain than any of those which had preceded 
it. The state of the Spanish government at 
home was such as to give no hope whatever 
that the seeds of revolution could be rooted out 
in Mexico beyond all danger of their spring- 
ing up again and finally growing beyond all 
control. Attention began to be directed to 
the growth of the tree in the right direction. 

The reader is to be introduced here to 
Agustin de Iturbide, a native of Valladolid 
(MoreHa), the birthplace of Morelos. He 
was born September 27, 1783, his father 
being a Spaniard, his mother a Mexican. 
Before he was sixteen years of age he had 
been made an officer in the Spanish militia, 
and he subsequently served in the Royalist 
army in different parts of the country with 
such distinction as to secure his promotion 
to a colonelcy. 

His ambition awoke. A glance at the 
status of affairs in 1820 was sufficient to 
convince him that there was no hope of 



Agustin de Ittirbide, iji 

maintaining the power of Spain any longer 
in Mexico. When the Hberal constitution 
was that year proclaimed in Spain it was 
evident to Iturbide that a crisis was pending 
in Mexico, and he determined to gain for 
himself a higher position in the new order 
of things than the Spanish government could 
offer, even if it succeeded in maintaining it- 
self. He attached himself to the ecclesiastics 
and more politic of the Spaniards, Creoles, 
and Mexican leaders, and after many con- 
ferences a programme of action was duly 
adopted, though kept secret for a time. In- 
dependence and separation from Spain were 
to be secured, but by themselves, not by 
the already existing party of revolutionists, 
and by the terms of the compact a Mexican 
representative monarchy was to be erected, 
ruled by a king of Spanish royal blood. It 
was a scheme calculated to conciliate all the 
various factions in the country, — to attract 
even the stanchest Royalists. 

Iturbide took the lead in the matter, se- 
cured from the viceroy command of an ex- 
pedition against Guerrero (who was then in 
the South) and in November, 1820, he estab- 
lished his headquarters in Teloloapam, with 
twenty-five hundred men. He entered forthwith 



172 A Short History of Mexico, 

into a correspondence with Guerrero, which 
resulted in an interview between the two op- 
posing chiefs at Acatempan on the lOth of 
January, 1 821, and the explanation to Guer- 
rero of the plans to secure home rule for 
Mexico under an imported Spanish king. 
Guerrero was delighted and at once ceded 
the command of the joint forces to Iturbide, 
and soon what has since been known as the 
Plan de Iguala was published to the world 
(February 24, 1821). It caused great excite- 
ment in Mexico, but it gained favor every- 
where. Only the immediate followers of the 
viceroy were dismayed. And no offers from 
the viceroy himself, of pardon, money, or pro- 
motion seduced Iturbide from his purpose. 
In vain the viceroy raised an army of six 
thousand Royalists and established it on the 
road between the city of Mexico and Tlalpam 
for the protection of the capital and as a 
menace to the forces of Iturbide. Valladolid, 
Queretaro, and Puebla were captured and the 
capital besieged by the army of the new 
chief. The Spanish cause grew weaker daily, 
and the Royalists finally began to find fault 
with the viceroy, accusing him of incapacity. 
Apodaca gave up the struggle. Don Fran- 
cisco Novella, his chief of artillery, then in 



The last Viceroy arrives, 173 

command of the forces at the capital, was 
named in his place, and " the Unfortunate " 
departed for Spain. 

Novella did little in the discharge of the 
office of viceroy. It was too late to stop 
the tide of revolution, and the measures he 
dictated were without result. The Mexican 
officers who had previously retired from ac- 
tive service again came to the front, and 
even Spanish Royalists declared themselves 
in favor of Independence. Santa Anna be- 
came prominent in Vera Cruz ; Negrete, Cor- 
tazar, Filisola, and Bravo are other names 
connected with this portion of Mexican revo- 
lutionary history. The whole country was 
in the hands of the Independents. Iturbide 
secured ample means for a successful cam- 
paign against the remnant of Spanish rule 
still left in the country. 

Such was the state of affairs when, in July, 
1 82 1, there arrived in Mexico Gen. Juan 
O'Donoju, the sixty-fourth viceroy and the 
last. He found things wholly beyond his 
control, and nothing to do but to acquiesce 
in the measures dictated by those whom he 
found in possession of the country he had 
been sent to govern. He took the oath of 
office in Vera Cruz. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Treaty of C(5rdoba, The Regency, The 
Empire, The Poder Ejecutivo, and The Mon- 
roe Doctrine. 

Provisional Government under the Treaty of C6rdoba. — The 
Three Guarantees. — Triumphal Entry of the Army into the 
Capital. — Iturbide the Liberator. — Proclamation of Iturbide. — 
The Regency. — Popular Reaction. — Congress. — Spain Re- 
fuses to Ratify the Treaty of Cdrdoba. — Iturbide's Election to 
the Throne. — The Coronation of Agustin I. — Extent of his 
Empire. — Difficulties Encountered. — Plan de Casa Mata. — 
Abdication of the Emperor. — Poder Ejecutivo. — Iturbide's 
Valedictory and Exile. — His subsequent Career. — His Return 
to Mexico. — Arrest and Execution. — His Sepulchre. — The 
Republic Formed. — The Monroe Doctrine and its Effects. 

ITURBIDE met the Viceroy at Cordoba 
on his way to the capital and the result 
of their interview was the famous Treaty of 
C6rdoba, embodying the principal points of 
the Plan de Iguala. By this treaty signed 
by O'Donoju on behalf of the Spanish gov- 
ernment, Mexico was declared sovereign and 
independent; a constitutional representative 
monarchy was created ; and Ferdinand VII. 
was called to be king. To await his arrival 
in the country and prepare for that event, a 



The Three Guarantees. 175 

provisional government was organized con- 
sisting of Antonio Joaquin Perez, Bishop of 
Puebla, and two associates, Juan Jose Es- 
pinosa de los Monteros and Jose Rafael 
Suarez Pereda. Many conferences were held 
and letters were exchanged in which the pre- 
cise form of government to be adopted was 
discussed and attempts were made to har- 
monize the various views held by the differ- 
ent Independent leaders. What are known as 
" las Tres Gai^antias,'' by which the attempt 
has been made to summarize the movement 
of Iturbide and his adherents, were adopted. 
The empire was to guarantee to the Mexican 
people the Roman Catholic religion without 
toleration of any other; the absolute inde- 
pendence of the country; and the equal 
rights of the native races and the residents 
of European descent, or Creoles. It is to 
these three guarantees, " religion, indepen- 
dence, and union," that the three colors of 
the Mexican flag, red, white, and green, 
adopted shortly afterwards, owe their origin. 

The army of the Independents, numbering 
sixteen thousand men and headed by Itur- 
bide, entered the capital on the 27th of Sep- 
tember, 1 82 1. Iturbide was hailed on all 
sides as the " Liberator " and a general jubi- 



1^6 A Short History of Mexico, 

lee attended the close of the war and the 
establishment of an Independent government. 
In the street of San Francisco a triumphal 
arch was erected. Under it the representa- 
tives of the city government met Iturbide as 
he advanced toward the palace and cathe- 
dral, and tendered to him the golden keys 
of the city. Iturbide returned them with a 
characteristic speech, saying that the gates 
of the city should be closed only against 
irreligion, disunion, and despotism, and that 
the keys were returned to their rightful cus- 
todians, in the belief that they would seek 
only the good of the citizens whom they 
represented. At the palace the " Liberator " 
was formally received by O'Donoju and con- 
ducted to the cathedral, where Te Deum was 
sung. 

In a proclamation to the Mexicans Iturbide 
took to himself the credit of having secured 
the Independence of Mexico by means of a 
bloodless revolution, thereby claiming supe- 
riority over the great leaders who had pre- 
ceded him and really prepared the way for 
him. In the temporary organization of the 
provisional government, taking place the day 
after the triumphant entry of the Independent 
army, the members of the governing board 



The Regency. i j77 

took an oath to support the Plan de Iguala 
and the Treaty of Cordoba. 

A regency was forthwith appointed. It 
consisted of Agustin de Iturbide as presi- 
dent, Juan O'Donoju, Manuel de la Barcena, 
Isidro Yanez, and Manuel Velasquez de Leon. 
O'Donoju died on the 8th of October, and 
Antonio Joaquin Perez, Bishop of Puebla, 
was appointed a regent in his stead. Iturbide, 
that he might not fail to show his loyalty to 
the Church, which was such a powerful factor 
in the Plan de Iguala, conferred the honorary 
presidency of the regency upon the Bishop 
of Puebla, while he assumed the command 
of the army. 

After the enthusiasm with which Iturbide 
had been popularly greeted upon his entry 
into Mexico had subsided, and the people 
had taken time to think, it was seen that 
Iturbide's plans were not wholly in accord 
with the views of the more thoughtful of the 
Mexicans. The people had suffered too much 
from the Church and its intimate relations to 
the Spanish government to allow it so much 
power in the new order of things, and Itur- 
bide was openly committed to the Church. 
Suspicions arose as to the motives of the 
" Liberator," and his disinterestedness was 



12 



178 A Short History of Mexico. 

largely discredited. A reaction was natural. 
Advocates of a republic came forward and 
developed strength. The Iturbidistas, the 
partisans of Iturbide, had control of the army 
and wielded the powerful influence of the 
clergy. The first Congress of the Mexican 
nation convened on the 24th of February, 
1822, — the first anniversary of the publica- 
tion of the Plan de Iguala. Its m.eetings 
were noisy. Between it and the regency dis- 
agreements arose. 

As might have been expected, and as was 
undoubtedly anticipated by Iturbide, Spain 
totally refused to ratify the Treaty of Cor- 
doba, and denied the right of O'Donoju to 
sign it. And when notice of this refusal 
reached Mexico, Iturbide was provided with 
the opportunity to gratify his vaulting am- 
bition. Among his adherents were the army, 
the clergy, and a few of the Spaniards. He 
first secured a demonstration in his favor by 
the army. Pio Marcha, a sergeant in the 
regiment of Celaya, was the distinguished in- 
strument of this act. It occurred in the 
cuartel at San Hipolito on the i8th of May, 
1822. Other citartels took up the cry, and it 
was repeated on the streets and finally an- 
nounced by salvos of artillery. Then in a 



Iturbide Emperor. 1 79 

turbulent session of Congress Agustin de 
Iturbide was elected Emperor of Mexico 
(May 19, 1822). If we may believe his own 
account, his election was greeted with unre- 
strained enthusiasm, and the air was rent with 
shouts of * ' Viva el Emperador ! Viva Agustin 
de Iturbide!'' 

He took the oath of office before the Con- 
gress at once, and began without delay to 
arrange for the succession to the throne, to 
provide titles for the various members of the 
Imperial family and other minor accessories 
of the empire, as well as to organize the gov- 
ernment. On the 2 1st of June, 1822, he was 
anointed and crowned in the great cathedral 
at the capital, assuming the title Agustin I., 
Emperor. He made the building erected 
by the Marquesa de San Mateo Valparaiso, 
in the first Calle de San Francisco (now 
known as the Hotel Iturbide) his residence. 

The reign of Agustin I. was brief and full 
of trouble. He was ruler of an empire only 
less in extent than Russia and China, and 
had reached the height of his ambition, but 
he soon experienced the uneasiness of the 
head that wears a crown, especially a crown 
that has not been carefully ** shaped " to the 
wearer's head. He tried to strengthen the 



i8o A Short History of Mexico, 

party upon whose support he principally re- 
lied, by the creation of orders of nobility and 
appointing to them those whom he consid- 
ered likely to be influenced by such flattery. 
He tried to destroy the opposition to him 
(composed of the old revolutionary leaders, 
for the most part, who wished either to have 
the Plan de Iguala explicitly executed or 
else the adoption of a Republic) by the im- 
prisonment of some of the members of Con- 
gress who most freely expressed themselves 
regarding him. But all this was to no pur- 
pose. It was not for the personal aggran- 
dizement of Iturbide that such valuable lives 
as those of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, More- 
los, Matamoras, and hundreds of other patriots 
had been sacrificed, and blood had been spilt 
by others in the great struggle that had just 
closed. The survivors of that struggle de- 
termined that they would not permit him to 
reap all the benefits of the independence. 
They decided to assist in the plans of those 
who labored for the establishment of a re- 
public. When in December, 1822, the op- 
position to the empire had grown to such 
proportions that it became an open rebellion, 
headed by General Santa Anna, and assumed 
the definite shape of the Plan de Casa Mata, 



Abdication of Agustift I. i8i 

and was actively supported by such revolution- 
ary chiefs as Bravo and Guerrero, Iturbide was 
without the means of suppressing the outbreak, 
and suddenly became aware that his popular- 
ity had subsided. He had been for a while 
the idol of the people ; he was now made to 
feel that he was their enemy, and that there 
was no way open for him but to abdicate. 
His empire was reduced in extent to the City 
of Mexico. He recalled Congress after hav- 
ing dismissed it because it was beyond his 
control, and on the 20th of March, 1823, tend- 
ered his resignation. But Congress promptly 
refused to accept it on the ground that it 
had never voluntarily elected him Emperor. 
But it just as promptly ignored him alto- 
gether and formed a provisional government, 
called the Poder Ejecutivo ('* Executive 
Power "), composed of four revolutionary 
chiefs, Nicolas Bravo, Guadalupe Victoria, 
General Negrete, and Vicente Guerrero. 
The Poder Ejecutivo, in recognition of the 
valuable services rendered to the country by 
Iturbide, granted him an annual pension of 
$25,000 on condition of his fixing his resi- 
dence in Italy. The Plan de Iguala and the 
Treaty of Cordoba were declared insufficient 
bases of government, and were abrogated as 



1 82 A Short History of Mexico, 

standing in the way of the free exercise of 
the power of the Mexicans to estabhsh a 
repubhc. 

Iturbide in leaving the capital published 
a valedictory proclamation to Congress, at- 
tempting to explain his conduct and express- 
ing his hopes that the Mexicans might be 
happy under the proposed new form of gov- 
ernment. After some delay he embarked 
in May, 1823, with his family at Vera Cruz in 
an English vessel and took up his residence 
in Italy. 

Thus ended the first Mexican empire. The 
fate of the ambitious Iturbide, whose previous 
career had been so brilliant, was sad indeed. 
From his home in Italy he closely watched 
Mexican affairs. There was still left in Mex- 
ico a party favorable to the re-establishment 
of an empire. There were many who were 
warmly attached to the ex-Emperor, person- 
ally; for with all his egotism and selfish am- 
bition he appears to have had a large amount 
of personal magnetism. With these partisans 
and friends he was in constant correspond- 
ence. But he was misled as to the strength 
of the monarchical party and as to the true 
trend of political events at his old home. 
That the government succeeding his was un- 



Fate of IttLrbide. 183 

stable he was correctly informed, but that 
there was a tendency toward monarchy, or 
that the way was open for him to return to 
his abandoned throne and former popularity 
was untrue. Still he yielded to the reports 
and to his own inclinations, and leaving Italy 
took up his residence in London. Thence he 
sent warnings to the Mexican government of 
the scheme of the Holy Alliance to restore 
Spanish rule in Mexico and offered his ser- 
vices to his country. Believing that he had 
thus opened the way for his return he set out 
from Southampton, and on the 14th of July, 
1824, he suddenly appeared with a part of his 
family in Soto la Marina. The Mexican 
commander of TamauHpas invited him to 
land and then informed him that he had but 
a few hours to live ; that Congress had passed 
a decree the previous April, upon receiving 
news, through his letter of warning, of his hav- 
ing left Italy, declaring him a traitor and pro- 
nouncing sentence of death upon him should 
he return to Mexico. In a special session 
the legislature of TamauHpas discussed the 
advisibility of carrying out this extraordinary 
sentence, and finally decreed that the execu- 
tion of Iturbide should take place. 

Five days after his landing he was taken 



1 84 A Short History of Mexico. 

to Padilla, and executed in front of the church 
at that place. He met death with heroism, 
for though a weak sovereign he was a brave 
soldier. In his last words he disclaimed the 
treasonable designs imputed to him, and ex- 
horted the Mexicans to observe their religion, 
maintain the peace, and obey the laws of their 
country. His remains were first buried in 
the old church at Padilla. In 1838 they were 
removed to the Cathedral in the city of 
Mexico and placed in the Chapel of San 
Felipe de Jesus in the west transept. Upon 
the sarcophagus enclosing his bones, he is 
called the " Liberator." Thus the Imperial 
title he had assumed was ignored, but the 
actual services rendered to his country were 
duly recognized. 

Under the Poder Ejecutivo, Congress was 
reassembled, and a constitution was adopted 
establishing a republican form of government 
somewhat after the model of the United 
States. It was proclaimed October 4, 1824, 
and is known as the Constitution of 1824. 
It was an important factor in the subsequent 
war of Texan Independence. An election 
was duly held and with the inauguration of 
the first President of Mexico on the loth of 
October, 1824, the Poder Ejecutivo ceased, 



The Monroe Doctrine. 185 

and the history of ** Los Estados Unidos Mex- 
icanos^' or '* La Republica Mexicana " (its 
literary title), begins. 

Contemporaneously, or nearly so, with the 
events narrated in the last two chapters the 
Spanish provinces in South America, — Ven- 
ezuela, New Granada and Peru, — by a revo- 
lution headed by Simon Bolivar, threw off 
the yoke of Spain ; and Guatemala, never a 
part of New Spain and only voluntarily united 
with the Mexican empire in 1822, severed 
its connection with Mexico, and set up a 
separate, independent republic. All the 
Spanish American countries were therefore 
the subject of the attention of the United 
States, and of the European powers. The 
United States had recognized the indepen- 
dence of Mexico in 1822, and were resolved 
to secure its recognition by the European 
nations. In the message of President Monroe 
to Congress in December, 1823, were declara- 
tions to the following effect : The American 
continents, by the free and independent con- 
dition they had assumed and maintained were 
no longer to be considered subjects for col- 
onization by European powers ; any attempt 
on the part of European powers to extend 



1 86 A Short History of Mexico, 

their political systems to the Western Hemis- 
phere would be considered dangerous to the 
peace and safety of the United States; any 
interposition by such powers to oppress or 
control the governments that had declared 
their independence and maintained it, and 
whose independence had been acknowledged 
by the United States would be viewed as 
unfriendly to the United States ; the political 
systems of Europe could not be extended to 
any portion of the American continents with- 
out endangering the peace and happiness of 
the United States, and such extension would 
not be regarded with indifference. 

This is the famous " Monroe Doctrine " to 
which appeal is made whenever a conflict 
between European and American interests 
on this continent is threatened. It had its 
rise in the events already described, and 
within half a century after its promulgation 
an occasion arose in Mexico for the assertion 
of that portion of the doctrine relating to 
foreign intervention in the affairs of free gov- 
ernments established on this continent. The 
occasion will receive due attention when we 
come to examine the affairs of the country 
in the time of the Second Empire. 

There seems to have been at no time a 



The Monroe Doctrine. 187 

perfect understanding on the part of the 
United States of the poHtical condition of 
Mexico, but the older repubUc could be 
relied upon to sympathize with a country 
having, by whatever means, secured its inde- 
pendence, and without examining too closely 
into the character of the government. It 
was no less ready to recognize the Mexican 
republic than it had been to recognize the 
empire. The declaration contained in the 
message of President Monroe was especially 
gratifying to England, whose minister of for- 
eign affairs had long been urging upon the 
United States the necessity of promulgating 
some such doctrine. The news of it, when 
received in Europe, was doubtless effectual in 
preventing Spain from making, at the time, 
any further effort to reclaim her revolted 
provinces in America. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Early Days of The Republic, and The 
Revolt of Texas. 

Complicated condition of Mexican politics. — Changes of govern- 
ment. — Guadalupe Victoria, the first President. — Recognition 
of the Republic, and end of Spanish Rule. — Election of 1828. 
— Guerrero declared President. — The Spanish expelled. — De- 
feat of Spanish expedition. — The governing board. — Anastasio 
Bustamenteo — Guerrero's attempt to regain power. — His ap- 
prehension and execution. — Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. — 
Valentin Gomez Farias. — Plan de Cuernavaca. — Miguel Bar- 
ragan. — Jose Justo Corro. — Early history of Texas. — Austin's 
grant from the Spanish Viceroy. — Rise and fall of the State of 
Fredonia. — Encounter at Fort Velasco. — Attempt of Texas 
to secure State franchises. — Austin's letter. — His arrest and 
imprisonment. — Santa Anna's attitude toward Texas. — Dec- 
laration of War. — Gen. Sam Houston and his army. — Capture 
of San Antonio. — Declaration of Independence. — The Republic 
of Texas. — Heroic defence of the Alamo. — The massacre at 
Goliad. — The battle of San Jacinto. — Santa Anna a prisoner of 
war. — Recognition of the Texas Republic. 

MEXICAN politics, always a bewilder- 
ing study, was by no means simplified 
by the adoption of a Republican form of 
government. It would be impossible to con- 
dense the political history of the Republica 
Mexicana and at the same time render it in- 
telligible. It would likewise be unprofitable 



Mexican Politics, 189 

to submit a detailed account of the rise and 
'fall of the various factions that have in turn 
ruled the country. At most periods of its 
existence, but more particularly throughout 
its attempts to maintain a repubHc, Mexico 
has deserved the reputation it has had in the 
world for revolutions, unstable government, 
and frequent political changes. But while 
almost any one of the numberless political 
intrigues which mark the course of its his- 
tory might furnish a plot for a thrilling 
historical novel, there are comparatively few 
events of more than local interest to be re- 
corded. These will be duly set down in their 
proper places. The rest of the history of 
the pseudo-republic (for in view of the 
facts which must be recorded here, it is en- 
titled to no fuller recognition as a republic) 
need consist of no more than the briefest 
accounts of the changes that have taken 
place in the administration of federal affairs. 

By the provisions of the constitution the 
presidential term was to continue four years 
and no president was eligible to immediate re- 
election. It may be with some surprise that 
the reader learns, in the earliest chapter of the 
History of the United States of Mexico, that 
so little heed was given to constitutional pro- 



190 A Short History of Mexico. 

visions that there were nine changes in the ad- 
ministration within the first decade ; and this 
is an earnest of what is to be noted through- 
out the subsequent history. The'reader who 
would be interested in knowing in every case 
who is the constitutional president (for the 
term is used long after the thing expressed 
by that term has disappeared from view) is 
doomed to disappointment. This book will 
make no effort to unravel such skeins. It 
can only adopt as the basis of its narrative 
the succession of the presidents de facto. 
Many a name on the list furnished us of the 
presidents of Mexico is that of a man who 
has reached that high position by virtue of a 
successful pro7iuncianientOy or a golpe de es- 
tado, which means the forcible setting aside 
of the constitution when found to be in the 
way of an aspirant to high office. If prece- 
dent is of any value in Mexico there is cer- 
tainly no reason why the right of any of the 
later presidents should be questioned. 

The first president of Mexico under the 
Constitution was the famous revolutionary 
General Gaudalupe Victoria, inaugurated 
in October, 1824. His real name was Felix 
Fernandez, his political or historical name 
having been adopted out of respect for the 



Guadalupe Victoria, ' 191 

great religious patron of Mexico, Our Lady 
of Guadalupe (thus acquiring for himself 
religious prestige), and in reference to the 
success that had attended all the battles in 
which he was engaged throughout the Rev- 
olution. He was an excellent man, despite 
his appearance in history under an alias. 
In proof of the honesty of his administra- 
tion it is related of him that he died poor, 
shortly after the close of his term of office, 
leaving his widow to the nation's care. He 
was permitted to complete his full term of 
office, — wherein his administration is unique. 
His vice-president was Gen. Nicolas Bravo, 
who was not fully in accord with his chief, as 
we shall see. It was by no means a peaceful 
term. The President was called upon to put 
down two revolutions. The first was headed 
by Padre Arenas, a Dominican friar, and was 
designed to re-establish Spanish rule. Its 
leaders were summarily dealt with. The 
second was headed by a man named Mon- 
tano, and involved in it was no less a person 
than the Vice-President, Nicolas Bravo. It 
had for its objects the expulsion of the Span- 
ish residents of Mexico, the recall of the 
ambassador from the United States, the re- 
moval of Manuel Gomez Pedraza. the Min- 



192 A Short History of Mexico. 

ister of War and virtual chief of the cabinet, 
and the extinction of Freemasonry, which 
was a powerful factor in politics. The revo- 
lution was put down by troops under General 
Guerrero, and resulted in the banishment of 
Bravo and other distinguished personages. 

It was in the first presidential term that the 
Spanish government lost its last foothold in 
America. It had up to this time maintained 
a garrison in San Juan de Ulua, off Vera 
Cruz. It abandoned this position in 1825. 
It was in that year that the republic received 
the recognition of England and the United 
States. 

The principal parties taking part in the 
election of 1828 were the Yorkinos and the 
Escoceses. The first was composed of the ad- 
herents of the York rites, and the Federalists, 
who called themselves ** high liberals." The 
others called themselves moderates, conserva- 
tives, and centralists, and comprised the adhe- 
rents of the Scottish rites. Freemasonry had 
played an active part in the drama of Inde- 
pendence, but there was an evident schism in 
Freemasonry, while the whole order was un- 
der the ban of the adherents of the Church. 
The Escoceses, aided by the Spanish residents, 
elected their candidate for the presidency, 



Vicente Guerrero, 193 

Gen. Manuel Gomez Pedraza ; but the Yorki- 
nos made an appeal, first to the legislature, 
and failing there, then to that most powerful 
factor in Mexican politics, — arms. This 
changed the whole course of Mexican history, 
and from that time until 1846 the succession 
of presidents was not dependent upon elec- 
tions. Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna 
inspired a revolution in Perote which soon 
spread to the capital. The city was sacked 
and a terrible scene of carnage ensued, from 
which the President-elect, Pedraza, saved 
himself by flight. It was amid such scenes 
as these that the term of Guadalupe Victoria 
expired. On the 12th of January, 1829, Con- 
gress declared the election of Pedraza null 
and void, and elected Gen. Vicente Guerrero 
the candidate of the Yorkinos, or high lib- 
erals, president, with Gen. Anastasio Busta- 
mente, vice-president. 

The old revolutionary hero, Guerrero, now 
for a short time at the head of the govern- 
ment, found himself once more in conflict 
with the Spanish. The Spanish residents of 
the country had taken such a prominent and 
influential part in the politics of Mexico (and 
were besides of the Escoseses or conservative 
party) that Congress decided in March, 1829, 

13 



194 A Short History of Mexico, 

that the Spaniards must go. They were 
accordingly expelled from the country. This 
precipitated a long-meditated scheme on the 
part of Spain, who still entertained the idea 
that it was possible to regain her lost prov- 
inces in America by conquest. With that end 
in view a squadron was prepared in Habana 
and sent out to Mexico. In July, 1829, about 
4,000 men debarked near Tampico and pro- 
ceeded to capture that city on the 4th of Au- 
gust. Thereupon Gen. Santa Anna, without 
awaiting orders from the government, fitted 
out an expedition, and after a series of skir- 
mishes and a few pitched battles, being joined 
by Gen. Manuel Mier y Teran, with regular 
forces of the republic, gained a decided vic- 
tory, and drove the Spanish to their ships on 
the nth of September, and they returned to 
Cuba. It was not until 1836 that Spain rec- 
ognized the independence of Mexico, though 
she made no further attempts at conquest. 

Scarcely had the Spanish invaders been 
repulsed when Guerrero found himself op- 
posed by the officers of his own administra- 
tion. The Vice-President, Gen. Bustamente, 
had been in command of a force of reserves 
in Jalapa in the campaign against the Span- 
ish, and upon the retiring of the invaders 



Overthrow of Guerrero. 195 

" pronounced " against the government, set- 
ting forth the Plan de Jalapa. Guerrero 
set out with an army from the capital in 
December, 1829, to put down this rebellion, 
leaving the administration of affairs in the 
hands of Don Jose Maria de Bocenegra, as 
acting-president. Guerrero was over-trustful 
of Bocenegra and his influence with the 
troops at the capital. No sooner had he 
left the city than he discovered that he had 
enemies behind him as well as before him, 
and that both Bustamente and Bocenegra were 
powerful leaders. His troops deserted him 
for Bocenegra, and he abandoned his expedi- 
tion and went into the South ; and thus, in less 
than a year, his presidency came to an end. 
Bocenegra maintained himself even a shorter 
time, for Bustamente succeeded in reaching 
the capital; but pending the full establish- 
ment of his government, the President of 
the Supreme Court of Justice, Don Pedro 
Velez, took charge of the office, associating 
with himself Gen. Luis Quintana and the his- 
torian, Don Lucas Alaman. Though this 
governing board accomplished little, the 
names of the constituents are placed in 
the list of Mexican presidents as succeeding 
Bocenegra. 



1 96 A Short History of Mexico. 

On the 1st of January, 1830, Gen. Anas- 
tasio Bustamente was inaugurated as presi- 
dent, — not without some shadow of right, it 
might be said ; for in view of the virtual abdi- 
cation of Guerrero, he was, as vice-president, 
entitled to succeed, — of course not examin- 
ing too closely into the manner in which the 
vacancy in the presidency had occurred. 
The affairs of the country were principally 
administered by the Minister of Relations, or 
Secretary of State, Lucas Alaman. Congress 
was very accommodating, and passed enabling 
acts, declaring Guerrero's government extinct, 
and the succession of Bustamente legal. 

In a brief season of peace the new govern- 
ment advanced many good measures. After 
that the usual number of revolutions broke 
out and were successively put down, and 
their leaders punished. One of these was 
headed by Guerrero, and was designed to 
restore him to power. The government took 
alarm at the promised success of his move- 
ments, and a dastardly plot was formed for 
the destruction of this gallant revolutionary 
chief. A Genoese captain of a brigantine 
was paid $70,000 to carry out the scheme, 
and sailed for Acapulco, where Guerrero was 
staying. The unsuspecting Guerrero was in- 



Guerrero Executed. 197 

vited to dine on board the vessel, and accepted. 
After dinner he was made prisoner, taken by 
the vessel to Huatulco, and delivered into the 
hands of his enemies. He was subjected to 
the mockery of a trial, condemned, and on the 
14th of February, 183 1, was shot in the town 
of Cuilapa. His remains now rest in the 
Panteon de San Fernando, in the capital ; and 
in the plaza of San Fernando stands a bronze 
statue of this heroic friend of the Mexican 
people. 

It is not surprising that such a cruel and 
cowardly act as the slaying of Guerrero should 
hasten the downfall of the government which 
had inspired it. The execrations of the people 
fell most heavily upon Minister of War Don 
Jose Antonio Facio who was supposed to be 
responsible for the plot against his life. In 
January, 1832, Santa Anna headed a revolu- 
tion in Vera Cruz in favor of the Conserva- 
tives ; and though Bustamente personally led 
the troops against the insurgents, the latter 
gained one victory after another, and finally, 
in November, defeated Bustamente in Casa 
Blanca, and brought his administration to an 
inglorious end. Gen. Melchor Muzquiz was 
appointed acting-president by Congress on 
the 14th of August. 



198 A Short History of Mexico, 

Meanwhile Gen. Manuel Gomez Pedraza 
had returned to the republic from his exile, 
and basing his claims upon his election in 
1828, but more particularly upon the ascend- 
ency gained by his partisans, the Conserva- 
tives, seated himself in the presidential chair 
on the 24th of December, 1832, and held office 
until a new election could be had. This 
election resulted in the choice of Gen. An- 
tonio Lopez de Santa Anna as president. 
He at once evinced a tendency to assume 
dictatorial powers, and to complicate himself 
with the Church party. He was no less a 
keen observer of popular events than he was 
shrewd in intrigue and indomitable in con- 
flict; and noting the fact that his acts were 
unpopular, he abandoned the presidency and 
retired to his hacienda of Mango de Clavo, 
on the road between Vera Cruz and Jalapa, 
leaving his Vice-President, Don Valentin 
Gomez Farias, to handle the reins of gov- 
ernment and to bear the brunt of the popular 
odium aroused by his awn acts. 

Gomez Farias was a man of more than the 
average ability. He was a native of Guada- 
lajara in 1 78 1. He was largely self-taught, 
and was skilled in medicine and science. He 
sacrificed his fortune for the cause of Inde- 



Gomez Farias, 199 

pendence, and organized a battalion in the 
army of Hidalgo. He was a deputy in the 
first Congress of the republic, and subse- 
quently organized the State of Zacatecas. 
When left to bear the burden of the affairs 
of the nation at such a critical time, he insti- 
tuted some very wise reforms, beginning with 
the University of which he was the head, ex- 
cluding the clergy from teaching in educa- 
tional institutions supported by national funds. 
He abolished the system of tithes for the 
support of ecclesiastical institutions (the first 
blow aimed at the Church, but afterwards an- 
nulled by Santa Anna, who was inclined to 
coquet with the Church) ; denied the right 
of civil courts to maintain the binding force 
of the monastic vow, thus leaving members of 
religious orders free to abandon their con- 
vents; expelled the Spanish refugees and 
monks who had flocked to Mexico from Gua- 
temala and Central America ; and consigned 
Bustamente to exile. He was called upon to 
put down an insurrection in May, 1833, which 
made Santa Anna a prisoner. But the in- 
domitable schemer made his escape, pre- 
sented himself in Puebla, organized resistance 
to the insurgents, and defeated them in 
Guanajuato. 



200 A Short History of Mexico, 

The retirement of Santa Anna to his haci- 
enda always augured some new political mis- 
chief in which he was to be the leader. It 
was in this case the plan called " Cuernavaca," 
whereby Santa Anna was to resume the presi- 
dency and assume the dictatorship. A so- 
called ** Constitutional" Congress, installed on 
the 4th of January, 1835, ^"^^ manipulated by 
Santa Anna, refused to recognize Farias, as- 
sumed the power to revise the Constitution 
of 1824, and selected a new president. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 28th of January, 1835, Gen. 
Miguel Barragan became acting-president of 
the republic. The administration of Bar- 
ragan brings to notice a series of events de- 
manding especial attention, and leading to 
the independence of Texas and the material 
reduction of the territory of the Mexican 
republic. To this subject American histo- 
ries have done scant justice. It is unfortu- 
nate that the opportunity here afforded is 
only to treat it in its bearings upon the his- 
tory of Mexico. Before the Texans secured 
their independence another change occurred 
in the administration of the Mexican gov-] 
ernment Acting-President Barragan died in 
February, 1836, of a fever, and Don Jos^ 
Justo Corro was appointed acting-president 



Texas. 201 

in his place, holding the office until the 19th 
of April, 1837. 

Texas claims scarcely any notice from the 
historians either of our country or of Mexico 
until the present century. In 1803 the United 
States purchased of France a large territory, 
known as Louisiana, and said to extend from 
the Mississippi River to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and from the British Possessions on the 
north to Mexico on the south. Some part, 
perhaps the whole, of what is now the State 
of Texas may have been included in this 
purchase; for Texas had been the subject 
of rival claims from the time when the 
French explorer. La Salle, descended the 
Mississippi River in 1684, and at its mouth 
took possession, in the name of his king, 
Louis XIV., of the entire region whence that 
mighty river derived its waters. Two years 
later he set out to explore the country, and 
French missionaries, following in his track 
westward, came in contact with Spanish mis- 
sionaries advancing northward from the city 
of Mexico. In 1762 France gave up Loui- 
siana to Spain; but forty years later, Spain 
returned it to Napoleon Bonaparte, then 
First Consul of France, and he without 



202 A Short History of Mexico. 

taking formal possession, sold it the fol- 
lowing year, as we have seen, to the United 
States. As soon as it was understood that 
Texas was in the possession of the United 
States, colonization from the States east of 
the Mississippi began, and within fifteen years 
there were nearly ten thousand white people 
settled there. 

But in the year 1 8 19 the residents of 
Texas awoke one morning to learn that the 
United States in purchasing Florida from 
Spain had given up Texas to that country in 
part payment therefor. They had supposed 
(they stated in a vigorous protest made to 
the government at Washington) themselves 
safe under the protection of the government 
of the United States, and now they found 
themselves suddenly " abandoned to the do- 
minion of the crown of Spain, and left a prey 
to all those exactions which Spanish rapacity 
is fertile in devising," by a treaty to which 
they were no party. Their protest was, of 
course, in vain. 

In 1 82 1 Moses Austin, a native of Connec- 
ticut, but who had become a Spanish subject 
by residence in New Orleans while that city was 
under Spanish rule, obtained from the Spanish 
Viceroy in Mexico, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, 



The Austins, 203 

" the Unfortunate," a grant of a large tract of 
land having a frontage of one hundred miles 
along the Gulf coast, and extending a greater 
distance into the interior of Texas. He was 
to induce three hundred families to colonize 
there and develop the country. Each family- 
was to receive a square league of land, and 
for every hundred families he succeeded in 
colonizing, Austin was to receive a snug little 
farm oi five square leagues. Moses Austin 
died in less than five months after obtaining 
this grant, leaving Stephen F. Austin, his son, 
to carry out his schemes for colonization. 

It was two months after he had signed the 
contract with Austin that the career in Mex- 
ico of Apodaca "the Unfortunate" closed. In 
the preceding pages the reader has seen the 
changes which took place in rapid succession 
in " the party of the first part " in that trans- 
action, from a tottering colonial government, 
to a weak empire, and then to an unstable 
repubHc. When, upon the death of his 
father, Stephen F. Austin went to the city of 
Mexico to obtain a confirmation of the grant, 
the government was in its transition state 
from the empire to the republic. It required 
months of negotiations to obtain what he 
wanted. In the course of these negotiations 



204 ^ Short History of Mexico, 

he received the title of ** Empresario " (from 
the Spanish empresa, an enterprise), and was 
vested with civil jurisdiction over his colonists. 

Returning to Texas, Austin set out with 
energy to accomplish the difficult task he 
had undertaken. He laid out the town — 
now the capital of the State and bearing his 
name — then known as San Felipe de Austin. 
In 1825, having fully complied with the terms 
of the original contract, he obtained a second 
grant, and in 1827 and 1828 he secured yet 
others. He was thus the means of intro- 
ducing over fifteen hundred colonists into 
the country. There were rival empresarios 
by this time, and one of them got into trouble 
with the Mexican government, and led his 
colonists to declare their Independence and 
organize the '* State of Fredonia," intending 
to include nearly the whole of Texas. This 
came near involving all the colonists in war 
with Mexico, which must have proved dis- 
astrous to Austin's colonies as well as the 
others. But Austin's colonists proved their 
loyalty to Mexico by aiding in putting down 
the rebellion. 

In 1830 the white population of Texas was 
estimated at forty thousand ; but Instead of 
being provided with a separate State govern- 



Btistamentds Tyranny, 205 

ment, the Texans were within the jurisdiction 
of the State of Coahuila, south of the Rio ; 
Grande, and peopled entirely by Mexicans. 
It was in that year that the tyrannous rule of 
Bustamente began in Mexico. His attitude 
toward the colonists was far from encour- 
aging. He repealed laws by which they had 
been protected, forbade citizens of the United 
States to hold lands in Mexico, and, worst 
of all, to enforce his new laws he stationed 
troops at various points in Texas, and built 
forts at the most thriving towns of the colo- 
nists. He also extended the jurisdiction of 
his military courts over Texas in the place of 
the civil authority conferred upon the emp7'e- 
sarios. The colonists were not the kind of 
men to submit tamely to such tyranny, and 
to all these measures of Bustamente they 
opposed themselves most vigorously. An en- 
counter took place at Fort Velasco, one of 
the forts built by Bustamente, and garrisoned 
by over two hundred Mexicans. After an en- 
gagement lasting eleven hours the Mexicans 
were forced to surrender, and were disarmed 
by a body of Texas volunteers (June, 1832). 
Nacogdoches was likewise taken by the Tex- 
ans, and thus the clouds of war blew over for 
a time. But it was deemed best on the part 



2o6 A Short History of Mexico, 

of the Texans that their country, having a 
population composed almost wholly of Amer- 
icans, should be separated from Coahuila, and 
erected into a distinct State. A constitution 
was accordingly prepared, in form resembling 
that of most of our States, though of course 
adapted to Mexican laws ; and Stephen F. 
Austin was sent to the city of Mexico to 
petition the erection of Texas into a State. 

Gomez Farias was at the head of affairs at 
the time, and Austin found him unfriendly to 
the cause of Texas. After long and tedious 
delays, Austin wrote to the Texans advising 
them to organize " a local government for 
Texas as a State of the Mexican Confed- 
eration, under the law of the 7th of May, 
1824, even should the Mexican government 
finally refuse its consent," and soon afterwards 
set out on his return to Texas. His letter 
fell into the hands of Farias, who fancied he 
saw treason therein. Austin was overtaken 
and carried back to the Mexican capital a 
prisoner. For nearly two years he remained 
a prisoner, a part of the time in solitary con- 
finement. He was finally allowed to return 
to his home in September, 1835. Besides 
this insult to a commissioner sent to treat 
with the Mexican government upon matters 



War Begun. 207 

pertaining to the welfare of his State, other 
grounds were furnished for the revolt of 
Texas. 

Santa Anna, at the head of the army of 
Barragan, in April, 1835, set out to reduce 
certain rebellious districts to submission, and 
while avowing the strongest friendship for 
Texas, began to make inroads upon the rights 
and liberties of the colonists. The inhabi- 
tants of the town of Goliad were disarmed, 
many were impressed into his army, and 
finally notice was given that Mexican troops 
were to be quartered upon the town. A spirit 
of resistance to such acts of despotism grew 
up in Texas. It needed but one more deci- 
sive act of tyranny to bring on the trouble 
that had long been threatening. Late in Sep- 
tember, 1835, an armed force of one hundred 
and fifty Mexicans was sent to Gonzales to 
secure a cannon used by the inhabitants of 
that town to defend themselves against the 
attacks of the Indians. A company of Texan 
volunteers, at first only eighteen in number, 
but increased to about one hundred and sixty 
in the course of a day or two, met the Mexi- 
cans, and after deciding to take the initiative 
in the war then clearly seen to be pending, 
drove them back (Oct. 2, 1835). This was 



2o8 A Short History of Mexico. 

to Texas what Concord and Lexington were 
to the United States. The whole country 
arose. The Texans ralHed around the Httle 
company at Gonzales; it grew into a regi- 
ment, elected officers, and was the nucleus of 
the army that fought for and won the inde- 
pendence of Texas. A few days later fifty 
Texans attacked and captured the Mexican 
garrison at Goliad, took twenty-five prisoners, 
and arms and military stores to the value of 
$10,000, and in a few weeks the forts on 
the Nueces River fell into the hands of the 
Texans. 

In November, 1835, some of the leading 
Texans met in council and adopted a dec- 
laration which admirably expressed the re- 
lations existing between the Texan colonies 
and the Mexican government. It stated that 
the federal institutions of Mexico had been 
overthrown, and the social compact existing 
between Texas and the other members of the 
Mexican confederacy dissolved; the people 
of Texas availing themselves of their natural 
rights had taken up arms in defence of their 
homes and liberties, both threatened by the 
encroachments of military despots, and also 
in defence of the Mexican Constitution of 
1824, so rudely set aside by the Congress of 



Gen. Sam Hoicstoit. 209 

1835, which under Santa Anna's manipulation 
had seated Barragan. Support was offered to 
such Mexican States as would take up arms 
against military despotism. The right of the 
then nominal authorities of Mexico to gov- 
ern Texas was denied. War was declared 
against the usurpers of the Mexican govern- 
ment so long as their troops remained in 
Texas, and the right of Texas to withdraw 
from the Union during the disorganization of 
the federal system and the reign of despotism 
was stoutly maintained. And having assumed 
this manly position, the Texans formed a 
temporary government, elected a governor, 
appointed Gen. Sam Houston commander- 
in-chief of their army to be raised, and sent 
Austin to the United States to secure aid for 
them in the struggle then begun, and Hkely 
to be prolonged. 

The army of which General Houston was 
thus appointed commander never numbered 
more than ten thousand men, was never well 
organized nor well equipped. The arms were 
mostly rifles and hunting-knives, and written 
history has never done full justice to the 
events following the Texans' declaration of 
war. The wresting of their territory from a 
nation having a population of eight millions 

14 



210 A Short History of Mexico. 

and an excellent standing army, and the es- 
tablishment of a republic of their own in the 
face of many obstacles, belong properly to 
the history of our own country, and are en- 
titled to a high and honorable place therein. 

The town of San Antonio had been occu- 
pied and fortified by Mexican troops under 
Gen. Martin Cos, sent by Santa Anna to re- 
strain the rising spirit of independence in 
Texas. On the 5th of December, 1835, the 
place was assaulted and taken by about three 
hundred Texans. By the terms of their sur- 
render the Mexicans were to retire beyond 
the Rio Grande and not to oppose in any 
way the re-establishment of the Constitution 
of 1824. 

In his efforts to obtain aid from the United 
States, Austin found that it would be neces- 
sary for the Texans to declare their indepen- 
dence definitively. This was accordingly 
done on the 2d of March, 1836. A constitu- 
tion was likewise prepared and adopted, and 
the republic of Texas began its existence. 
Upon the very first page of its history is re- 
corded one of the most heroic incidents of 
modern times. 

Santa Anna was himself advancing upon 
Texas with an army, intending to subjugate 



Massacre at the Alamo. 211 

the new republic. In February, 1836, he 
arrived with one division of his army before 
San Antonio. Col. W. B. Travis, a young 
Texan officer, with about one hundred and 
fifty men withdrew to the Alamo, a mission 
located there in 1744 and named after the 
Cottonwood trees growing in the vicinity. It 
had ceased to be used as a parish church in 
1793, and since that time had become the 
fortress of San Antonio. The events then 
about to transpire within the walls of the old 
Spanish mission made the Alamo the battle- 
cry in the war of Texas Independence, and 
have given the name of ** The Alamo City " 
to San Antonio, the flourishing metropolis of 
Western Texas. Travis had fourteen can- 
nons of different sizes, and he raised the flag 
of the temporary government of Texas, — 
the Mexican colors, red, white, and green, 
with the figures ** 1824 " in place of the Mex- 
ican Eagle on the white stripe. Santa Anna 
in person conducted the siege of the Alamo. 
In sending for reinforcements (which never 
came) Travis wrote, *' I shall never surrender 
or retreat ; " and upon the tenth day of the 
siege, when he wrote to hasten the reinforce- 
ments he stated that he was surrounded by a 
force variously estimated at from fifteen hun- 



212 A Short History of Mexico. 

dred to six thousand men. Cannon-balls were 
falling among his men all the time, yet he 
was prepared to hold the place against the 
enemy until relief came, or perish in its de- 
fence. He kept his word. To those within 
the fortress he announced the desperate posi- 
tion they were all in, but declared his inten- 
tion to sell life as dearly as possible. Almost 
to a man they agreed to stand by him. 

It was at four o'clock in the morning of 
Sunday, March 6, that the final assault was 
made and the Alamo fell into the hands of 
Santa Anna. But the little band fought to 
the last. Travis fell early in the action, 
sabred by a Mexican, but not before he had 
plunged his own sword into the body of his 
antagonist, both dying at the same time. It 
had been agreed that when the whole case 
seemed utterly hopeless to the garrison a 
match was to be applied to the powder mag- 
azine. The Texan appointed to perform this 
final act was killed with the match in his 
hand. The whole garrison was put to the 
sword. Of the brave defenders of the Alamo 
not one was spared. ** Thermopylae had 
her messengers of defeat, but the Alamo had 
none." 

The same month another fearful tragedy 



Massacre at Goliad, 213 

was enacted at Goliad. In the advance of 
the other division of the Mexican army, San 
Patricio had fallen into the hands of the 
Mexicans, and two separate bodies of Texans 
had been attacked and badly handled. Col. 
James W. Fannin, in command of four hun- 
dred men at Goliad, deemed it necessary to 
evacuate that place and hasten to Victoria. 
On the way, at Colita, he encountered the 
Mexicans, and a fight ensued, lasting all day 
and resulting in a loss of fourteen Texans 
killed, and sixty (including Fannin) wounded. 
In the night the Mexicans received reinforce- 
ments, and when morning dawned the Texans 
found themselves completely surrounded, and 
with no course open but to surrender on the 
best terms they could make. The terms ac- 
cepted were these : they were to be treated 
as prisoners of war, according to the usages of 
civilized nations ; . . , they were to be sent 
to Copano and thence in eight days, to the 
United States, the officers on parole. Upon 
being taken back to Goliad they were joined 
by a party sent out from that place, which 
had also fallen into the hands of the Mexi- 
cans. On the morning of Palm Sunday, 
March 27, they were all taken out under pre- 
text of starting on their journey home, and 



214 A Short History of Mexico, 

every one of them was shot. This is what a 
Mexican officer in Goliad wrote to a friend at 
home : ** At six o'clock this morning the 
execution of 412 American prisoners was be- 
gun and continued until eight o'clock, when 
the last of the number was shot. At eleven 
began the operation of burning their bodies. 
. . . They were all young men (the oldest 
not more than thirty) and of fine, florid 
complexions." 

Houston had with him near Gonzales less 
than four hundred raw recruits when he 
learned of the massacre of the Alamo garri- 
son, and at the same time that three thousand 
Mexicans were in pursuit of him under the 
command of Santa Anna himself. Retreat- 
ing before this overwhelming force the Texan 
soldiers had to take the families of the colo- 
nists along with them ; for to escape butchery 
at the hands of the Mexicans they were will- 
ing to suffer death by any other means. On 
the retreat the news of the slaughter of Fan- 
nin and his men reached the Texan comman- 
der, and he felt that the time had come to 
decide the fate of the new republic. The 
brave words of Travis at the Alamo inspired 
him to similar utterances. " If only three 
hundred men remain with me," he said, '* I 



San Jacinto. 215 

shall die with them or conquer our enemies." 
He gathered up all the available troops, and 
then had less than seventy cavalry, about 
seven hundred infantry, and two small pieces 
of artillery. Upon reviewing this meagre 
army, Houston remarked, "With these we 
must conquer or die." 

The decisive battle was fought on the 
banks of the San Jacinto River on the 21st 
of April, 1836. It secured to the Texans 
the object of all their struggles. Opposed to 
them were fifteen hundred Mexicans under 
General Cos, despite his parole upon his 
capture at San Antonio the year before. 
The Texans lost eight killed and seventeen 
wounded. The Mexicans lost officers of 
every rank, and over six hundred privates 
killed and two hundred wounded. Seven 
hundred Mexicans fell into the hands of the 
Texans as prisoners, and among them were 
Santa Anna and his staff. Santa Anna ac- 
knowledged the Independence of Texas and 
was after a time allowed his liberty, and go- 
ing first to the United States, eventually re- 
turned to Mexico. His subsequent plea in 
regard to Texas was that his acknowledg- 
ment of its independence had been extorted 
from him under duress of imprisonment. 



2i6 A Short History of Mexico, 

The independence of Texas thus secured, 
the republic was recognized by the United 
States, France, England, and Belgium. For 
eight years it maintained its separate exist- 
ence, coming into the American Union in 
1844 as the twenty-eighth State. 



CHAPTER IX. 

More Presidents, More Revolutions, and the 
War with the United States. 

Bustamente again President. — The French " Pie Claim." — Santa 
Anna Regains his Popularity. — Election of 1843, under a New 
Constitution. — Santa Anna Exiled to Cuba. — Jose Joaquin de 
Herrera. — Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga. — His Monarchical 
Tendencies. — Nicolas Bravo. — Mariano Salas. — Return of 
Santa Anna. — Invasion of Mexico by United States Troops. — 
Causes of the War. — Disputed Territory Occupied by Gen. 
Zachary Taylor. — Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma. — Capture of Monterey and Battle of Buena Vista. — 
General Fremont and the American Navy secure California. — 
Arrival of General Scott off Vera Cruz. — Capture of the City. — 
Battle of Cerro Gordo. — Jalapa and Puebla Taken. — Puente 
Nacional. — Battle of Pedregal. — Casa Mata and Molino del 
Rey. — Chapultepec Taken. — Grant at San Cosme. — Occupa- 
tion of the Capital. — Flight of Santa Anna. — Treaty of Gua- 
dalupe-Hidalgo. — Its Peculiarities. — Resting-place of Ameri- 
can Soldiers. 

SURPRISING as it may at first seem,— 
though nothing that occurs in Mexican 
history should occasion surprise, — in the 
year 1837 Acting-President Corro was suc- 
ceeded by Gen. Anastasio Bustamente, who, 
returning from his exile, became president 
of Mexico for the second time by the elec- 
tion of Congress. Belonging to a party 
opposed to Gomez Farias, he set out to 



2 1 8 A Short History of Mexico, 

reverse many of the acts performed by that 
eminent publicist. Trouble with France was 
the first important event of his second admin- 
istration. It grew out of an exorbitant claim 
made by France upon Mexico, sarcastically 
termed in history " the Pie claim " {reclmnacion 
de los pasteles). The whole claim amounted 
to six hundred thousand dollars, and was 
based upon alleged damages to French citizens 
during the Mexican civil wars. One tenth 
the amount was claimed by a French chef iox 
pies stolen by the revolutionists. Hence the 
term, at first humorously applied, but finally 
adopted in sober history and even used in offi- 
cial documents. To enforce the payment of 
this *' pie claim," the Mexican ports were de- 
clared blockaded, a squadron arrived off Vera 
Cruz under the Prince de Joinville, and that 
city was bombarded the 27th of November, 
1838. The Mexicans themselves destroyed 
the forts, and to the number of six hundred 
perished in the ruins. 

Santa Anna had returned from the United 
States, and having hid his disgrace for awhile 
in his hacienda, now came forth to defend Vera 
Cruz from the new enemy, and finally, on the 
5th of December, 1837, defeated the French 
in a well-fought battle, in which he lost a leg, 



An Empire Proposed, 219 

— but he regained his popularity. The cause 
of the war was subsequently settled by the 
payment of the French claim in full. 

The enforcement of the new Constitution 
caused various revolutions throughout the 
country. But they were successively put 
down. One of them was headed by Gen. 
Jose Antonio Mejia, a personal enemy of 
Santa Anna, noted for his bravery and honor., 
He fell into the hands of his enemy on the 
3d of May, 1839. When he inquired what 
disposition was to be made of him he was 
told that he was to be shot within three 
hours. " If Gen. Santa Anna had fallen into 
my hands," he replied, " I would have given 
him as many minutes.'* Another of these 
revolutions had for its object the establish- 
ment of the Sierra Madre republic. 

In August, 1840, Don Jose Maria Gutierrez 
de Estrada, a statesman, resigned his position 
under the government and wrote an open let- 
ter to the President, pointing out the absolute 
failure of the republic to maintain itself and 
provide good government for the Mexican 
people, and proposing that the republican 
form of government be abandoned, and in its 
place an empire be established with a Euro- 
pean prince at its head. Gutierrez de Estrada 



220 A Short History of Mexico, 

paid for his temerity by going into exile, but 
his famous letter was the initial act in the 
drama which closed with the execution of 
Maximilian in 1867. 

Other revolutions sprang up, and these 
would not " down at the bidding " of Busta- 
mente and his partisans. Finally, in Septem- 
ber, 1 84 1, the party of Santa Anna regained 
power, and Bustamente departed for Europe. 
He left the government in the hands of Don 
Javier Echeverria, who, under the new Con- 
stitution, was president of the Council, or 
virtual vice-president. By the ** Plan de 
Tacubaya," by which name the revolution 
that had deposed Bustamente is known, 
Echeverria was superseded within a few days 
by Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna as 
provisional president. But rather than leave 
the seclusion of his hacienda, Santa Anna 
preferred to place public affairs in the hands 
of Gen. Nicolas Bravo, and Don Valentin 
Canalizo, who executed the mandates of 
the provisional President during his absence 
from the city. Bravo manipulated matters 
with great skill in behalf of his chief, dis- 
solved Congress and established a Junta de 
Notables^ which decreed on the 12th of 
June, 1843, ^ ii^w Constitution, known as 



Santa Annans Exile, 221 

" Bases organicas^' centralizing the govern- 
ment. The elections held under this ar- 
rangement bestowed upon Santa Anna the 
presidency unconditionally. But the absolu- 
tism of the President called forth vehement 
speeches all over the country, and the result 
was a new crop of revolutions. They sprang 
up everywhere. While Santa Anna was en- 
gaged in quelling an insurrection in Guada- 
lajara, and Canalizo was in charge of affairs at 
the capital, a popular movement was so far 
successful in the latter city (December 6, 
1 844) as to obtain the imprisonment of Cana- 
lizo and his Minister of War. When Santa 
Anna returned to the capital he found it fully 
occupied by armed opponents to his despotic 
government. After an unsuccessful attack 
upon Puebla and the desertion of his troops 
he set out for the coast, intending to leave 
the country. He was captured in Jico and 
imprisoned in Perote, but was subsequently 
pardoned and permitted to leave the country. 
He spent his exile in Cuba. 

It was the movement headed by Gen. 
Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga, that produced 
this overthrow of Santa Anna and his gov- 
ernment; and upon the imprisonment of 
Canalizo, Gen. Jose Joaquin de Herrera, 



222 A Short History of Mexico. 

President of the Council, entered upon the 
discharge of the duties of president and held 
the office for about a year. His brief ad- 
ministration marks the beginning of the war 
with the United States, and was brought to 
a close by the prommciamento of General 
Paredes, then in San Luis Potosi, on his way 
to engage Gen. Zachary Taylor, advancing 
with the American army from the North. 
Gen. Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga returned 
with his troops to the capital, and the 
day after his arrival (January 3, 1846) was 
declared president. But he was able to 
maintain his position only about six months. 
He developed most remarkable monarchical 
tendencies, and aided by the Spanish ambas- 
sador, published a paper, ^^ El Tiempo'' sug- 
gesting a monarchy as alone able to withstand 
the threatened encroachments of the Amer- 
icans. A revolution breaking out in Gua- 
dalajara In May brought his administration 
of affairs to a close, for no sooner had he 
marched against the insurgents in Guadala- 
jara, than Congress installed Gen. Nicolas 
Bravo as president ad interim (July 29, 
1846). But another revolution broke out in 
the capital the next month, and Bravo was 
displaced by Gen. Mariano Salas, who sue- 



Various Presidents. 223 

ceeded in reconciling the various parties in 
view of the impending dangers from the 
American invasion. He re-established the 
Constitution of 1824, organized the national 
army and convened Congress for the purpose 
of obtaining a new election. He also caused 
the return of Santa Anna from his exile, as a 
man who could be relied upon to cope with 
the military emergencies that had arisen. 
He procured the arrest and imprisonment of 
Paredes. 

When Congress held its election it resulted 
in the choice of Gen. Antonio Lopez de 
Santa Anna for president (Dec. 6, 1846). 
The President, however, went at once to the 
seat of war, leaving, as before, his Vice-Presi- 
dent, Don Valentin Gomez Farias, to ad- 
minister the presidential office. And during 
the year 1847 the presidential office was 
made even more than usually a foot-ball. 
Gomez Farias laid down the office on the 
2 1st of March, and General Santa Anna re- 
sumed it for a few days until called to take 
charge of the campaign against General Scott, 
when Congress, ignoring Gomez Farias, ap- 
pointed Gen. Pedro Maria Anaya, acting- 
president, and he held the office for about 
two months. After the battle of Cerro Gordo, 



224 ^ Short History of Mexico. 

Gen. Santa Anna returned and held the 
reins of government from June until the oc- 
cupation of the capital by the Americans in 
September. Upon the occurrence of that 
disastrous event he set out for Puebla, and 
resigned the office and left the country, being 
succeeded in the presidency by Don Manuel 
de la Pena y Pena, president of the Su- 
preme Court of Justice, who established his 
government first in Canaleja near Toluca, 
and subsequently in Queretaro, — the capital 
remaining in the hands of the Americans. 
Congress, meeting in Queretaro, appointed 
Don Pedro Maria Anaya, acting-president 
on the 1 2th of November, 1847, ^^^ he ex- 
ercised the office until the 7th of the follow- 
ing January, when Don Manuel de la Pena 
y Pena resumed the office until the 3d of 
June, 1848. Then, by virtue of an elec- 
tion, Gen. Jose Joaquin Herrera entered the 
presidency the second time. The war with 
the Americans, beginning in his first term, 
was concluded in his second. The instability 
of the government and the frequent changes 
in the administration, — twelve in number 
pending the war, — are to be taken into ac- 
count among the causes of the failure of that 
war on the part of the Mexicans. 



War with the United States, 225 

The war between the United States and 
Mexico has been recently pronounced on 
high authority '' one of the most unjust ever 
waged by a stronger against a weaker na- 
tion," and it is difficult to find any one dis- 
senting from that opinion. It arose out of 
the admission of the RepubHc of Texas into 
the American Union, subject to the subse- 
quent adjustment of all territorial boundaries. 
But it was at the time assumed on the part of 
the United States that the southwestern 
boundary of Texas was formed by the Rio 
Grande, and not by the Nueces River. The 
Mexicans claimed the reverse, and (the Busta- 
mente government having repudiated the 
recognition by Santa Anna of the indepen- 
dence of Texas) had strenuously objected to 
the annexation of that republic and had 
continued the war against the Texans in a 
€tful way, though without doing much dam- 
age. They claimed that there was a suffi- 
cient casus belli in the annexation itself. 

The United States, on the other hand, as- 
suming that the Rio Grande was the proper 
boundary of the annexed State, took imme- 
diate measures to defend it as such. Gen. 
Zachary Taylor was sent to Corpus Christi 
in the summer of 1845 with orders to repel 



226 A Short History of Mexico. 

any invasion of the Texan territory that 
might be attempted by Mexican forces ; and 
in March, 1846, he received positive orders 
from the government at Washington to cross 
the disputed territory between the Nueces 
and the Rio Grande. He arrived opposite 
Matamoras on the 28th of that month. A 
skirmish took place on the 24th of April, 
north of the Rio Grande, in which a party of 
American dragoons fell into a Mexican am- 
buscade and was captured, sixteen being 
killed or wounded. In May General Arista 
crossed the Rio Grande and engaged in bat- 
tle with General Taylor at Palo Alto and was 
defeated. The next day (May 9) the battle 
of Resaca de la Palma (Resaca de Guerrero) 
was fought between the two Generals, with 
the defeat (as before) of the Mexican Gen- 
eral, who retreated in the direction of San 
Luis Potosi, and was superseded by Gen. 
Pedro Ampudia. General Taylor marched 
his forces across the Rio Grande on the 
17th of May and the invasion of Mexico was 
begun in earnest. From the 21st to the 24th 
of September, he was engaged with seven 
thousand men in the attack upon Monterey, 
the capital of Nueva Leon, garrisoned by a 
force of nine thousand. He met with the 



Monterey and Buena Vista. 227 

same success which had attended his former 
engagements. General Ampudia was also 
forced to retire to San Luis Potosi. The 
brilliant features of this attack were the as- 
sault upon Obispado Viejo by General Worth 
on the first day of the fight, and the storming 
of the heights above on the following day. 
The old Episcopal palace is west of the city, 
and on a spur of the cerro de las Mitras. It 
was built as a place of retirement for the 
Bishops of Monterey toward the end of 
the eighteenth century and now maintains 
the character given to it during this war by 
being used as artillery barracks. When this 
and the heights back of it fell into the hands 
of the Americans, the surrender of the city 
was only a question of time. 

Upon the defeat of Ampudia, Santa Anna, 
having then just attained to the chief magis- 
tracy of Mexico and left it in the hands of 
his Vice-President Gomez Farias, took the 
command of the Mexican forces and set out 
to check the advance of General Taylor. On 
the 23d of February, 1847, the bloody battle 
of Angostura, as it is called by the Mexicans 
(known to the Americans as the battle of 
Buena Vista), was fought, and lost by the 
Mexican army. Santa Anna returned to 



228 A Short History of Mexico. 

San Luis Potosi, whence he was called to the 
capital to head off the insurrection against 
Gomez Farias, by the party called derisively 
the Polkos, because their insurrection at that 
time was clearly favorable to the movements 
of the American army, and because James K. 
Polk was then the president of the United 
States and head of the American party favor- 
able to the war. It was at this time that the 
army of Taylor was reduced to about five 
thousand men in order to supply Gen. Win- 
field Scott with forces to carry out his mili- 
tary operations, and the field of war was 
transferred to the region between Vera Cruz 
and the capital. 

While these events were in progress an 
expedition under Gen. John C. Fremont had 
been made over-land through New Mexico 
and into California, and under the directions 
of the United States government the Mexi- 
cans of California had been incited to revolt. 
An American squadron, under Commodore 
Sloat, arrived ofT the Californian Monterey on 
the 7th of July, 1846. San Francisco was oc- 
cupied the following day, and on the 17th of 
August Commodore Stockton took formal 
possession of California. On the loth of 
January, 1847, Los Angeles was occupied by 



Gen. Scotfs Campaign. 229 

the Americans, and the conquest of the terri- 
tory was completed by Commodore Stockton 
and Gen. Stephen Kearney. On the loth of 
November, 1846, a force of a thousand Amer- 
icans had debarked at Tampico and taken 
the town, it having been abandoned by the 
Mexicans. On the 26th of December Paso 
del Norte was captured by a detachment of 
Fremont's army, and Colonel Doniphan be- 
gan his march towards Chihuahua, out-flank- 
ing the Mexicans in their intrenchments at 
Sacramento on the 28th of February, 1847, 
and occupying Chihuahua shortly afterwards. 
It was on the 8th of March, 1847, that Gen. 
Winfield Scott arrived with two steamers, 
five gunboats, and an army of over ten thou- 
sand men off Vera Cruz, and landing his 
troops opposite the Island of Sacrificios at 
once invested the city, and on the 28th, after 
the bombardment of the city and San Juan 
de Ulua for three and a half days, the city 
surrendered and the Mexican troops laid 
down their arms. Thereupon the greater 
part of the American army began an advance 
upon the city of Mexico by way of Jdapa, 
and, in general, the route taken by the great 
Conqueror of the sixteenth century. Santa 
Anna with about twenty thousand men again 



230 A Short History of Mexico, 

set out to meet the advancing enemy, and the 
two armies came together at Cerro Gordo 
between Vera Cruz and Jalapa. This famous 
battle (April 18) resulted in the defeat of 
the Mexican army and the flight of Santa 
Anna to Orizaba, — his army, under the com- 
mand of General Canalizo, retreating to 
Puebla. Subsequently Santa Anna arrived 
in the city of Mexico, and by pointing out to 
the people the perils of the situation, suc- 
ceeded in raising an army of ten thousand 
men for the protection of the capital. 

The American army advanced leisurely. 
Jalapa fell into the hands of General Twiggs' 
division on the 19th of April, and Perote was 
occupied by General Worth's division on the 
2 2d. Puebla was taken by General Worth on 
the 25th of May, and General Scott, following 
with the main army, made that city his head- 
quarters. Engagements took place on the 
8th of June at Puente Nacional, on the road 
from Vera Cruz to Jalapa, between detach- 
ments sent out from Jalapa to reinforce the 
American garrison at Vera Cruz and some 
Mexicans defending the road. The Mexi- 
cans were defeated. 

On the 8th of August Scott marched from 
Puebla toward the capital. Reaching Ayotla 



Churubusco. 231 

on the 1 2th, he chose the route south of 
Lake Chalco, and arrived at San Agustin on 
the 1 8th. The next day he attacked the 
Mexicans in what is now known as the Pe- 
dregal (stony place), the lava beds south of 
San Angel and Coyoacan, the battle being 
known to the Mexicans as La Padierna. He 
succeeded in chasing the Mexicans into San 
Angel. Mexicans attribute this defeat to 
rivalry between Santa Anna and General 
Valencia, the commandant at Contreras. A 
strongly fortified position at San Antonio 
was also taken by assault by a detachment 
under General Worth. 

Between the American army and the city 
of Mexico, only a few miles distant, there 
were a number of strongly fortified positions, 
defended by the National Guard, composed 
of Mexicans of high social standing. One of 
these was the old convent of Churubusco, 
still standing. It was attacked by the Amer- 
icans from all sides, — five thousand or six 
thousand men under Generals Twiggs, Smith, 
and Worth. The defenders numbering about 
eight hundred, possessed of six pieces of 
artillery of different sizes, were under the 
command of Gen. Pedro Maria Anaya, who 
had twice been president of Mexico for a few 



232 A Short History of Mexico. 

months. The fight was hot until the defend- 
ers' ammunition was expended, when, without 
surrendering, the convent was captured. The 
reply of General Anaya to General Twiggs 
when, upon taking possession of the convent, 
the latter inquired for the ammunition, has 
become historic. '' Sir," said he, "if there 
had been any ammunition left, you would 
not now be here." The battlefield of Churu- 
busco is marked by a monument and the 
date of the battle (August 19) is annually 
observed by the Mexicans of that vicinity. 

An armistice was profi"ered by the Ameri- 
cans, and accepted by the Mexicans on the 
2 1st, and negotiations were carried on be- 
tween commissioners of both nations. The 
Americans demanded what was finally ob- 
tained as the result of the war, — a demand 
which was indignantly refused by the Mexi- 
cans, though the armistice was useful to them 
in allowing them time to strengthen their 
position and reinforce their army. On the 
8th of September hostilities were again be- 
gun, and General Worth led the assault on 
Casa Mata and Molino del Rey, and after an 
obstinate resistance by the Mexicans and the 
loss of many men, carried both points. The 
Mexicans fell back to Chapultepec and the 



The Capital Taken. 233 

western garitas of the city. At daybreak on 
the 13th, Chapultepec was attacked from the 
west by the whole American force under 
General Pillow, and, though strongly de- 
fended, was taken. 

The Mexicans disputed the advance of the 
Americans step by step, and there were en- 
counters at Belen and San Cosme. The in- 
cident of the attack by Lieut. U. S. Grant, 
from the tower of the church of San Cosme, 
where he had mounted a howitzer, has re- 
cently become famous. The Mexican capital 
was finally occupied by the American troops 
on the 14th of September. General Quitman 
took possession of the Ciudadela, and the 
stars and stripes waved over the National 
Palace, which was occupied by General Scott. 

Upon the fall of Churubusco, Santa Anna 
had fled to Guadalupe, and thence, leaving 
the command of the army to General Manuel 
Maria Lombardini, he went to Puebla. He 
subsequently fled without escort to Tehuacan, 
and left the republic without formally resign- 
ing the presidency. 

The Americans remained in possession of 
the Mexican capital until after the confirma- 
tion by the Mexican Congress, sitting in 
Queretaro, on the 6th of June, 1848, of the 



234 -^ Short History of Mexico. 

famous treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (so 
called because signed in the town of that 
name on the 2d of February). By the terms 
of that treaty Mexico ceded to the United 
States more than two fifths of her former ter- 
ritory, and received an indemnity of $15,- 
000,000. The boundary between the two 
nations was fixed as it now is, save as sub- 
sequently changed by the Gadsden Purchase. 
The American army evacuated the capital on 
the 1 2th of June, and the Mexican govern- 
ment was re-established there. 

It is worthy of record that the famous 
treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo is unique among 
treaties, not only because of the generous 
terms dictated by a conquering army occu- 
pying the captured capital of the nation 
treated with, but because it was signed on the 
part of the United States by a man who had 
no authority for so doing, namely, Nicholas 
P. Trist, and was accepted by Mexico with 
the full understanding of that fact. The 
authority with which Trist had been clothed 
had expired. But when the time was ripe 
for treaty he assumed the responsibility, and 
thus saved the treaty. His act was after- 
wards affirmed by the government of the 
United States. 



Burial-place of Victims. 235 

A small monument in the American Ceme- 
tery at Tlaxpana, a western suburb of the 
city of Mexico, marks the burial-place of 
over four hundred American victims of this 
war between Mexico and the United States. 



CHAPTER X. 

Still More Presidents, Anti-Presidents, and 
THE War of " The Reform." 

Second Administration of Herrera. — Mariano Arista. — Juan 
Bautista Ceballos. — Manuel Maria Lombardini. — Santa Anna 
Declares Himself Perpetual Dictator. — Revolutions on the Pa- 
cific Coast. — Santa Anna's Flight from the Capital. — His sub- 
sequent Career and Death. — Anarchy at the Capital. — Romulo 
Diaz de la Vega Restores Order. — Martin Carrera. — Plan de 
Ayotla Successful. — Juan Alvarez and Ignacio Comonfort. — 
Revolution in Puebla. — War between Church and State. — 
Suppression of Monastery of San Francisco. — Constitution of 
1857. — Golpe de Estado. — Zuloaga's Rebellion. — Comonfort's 
Exile. — Plan de Navidad. — The Succession of Anti-presi- 
dents. — Benito Juarez Comes into Power. — The War of the 
Reform. — Career of Juarez. — Difficulties in Establishing his 
Government. — Nationalization of Church Property. — Execu- 
tion of the Decree. — Monuments of the Reform Period. 

THE fondness for revolution inherent in 
the Mexican people was scarcely in- 
dulged during the second administration of 
Herrera, and the government succeeded in 
permanently quieting General Paredes, who 
was defeated in Guanajuato in July, 1848. 
Herrera's administration was wise, economi- 
cal, tolerant, and moral, and lasted until the 
beginning of the year 185 1. And it was 
furthermore unique in this respect : for the 



Mariano Arista, 237 

first time in the history of the republic, the 
government passed from the hands of one 
president to those of another — both consti- 
tutionally elected — without violence. The 
election of 1850 resulted in the choice of 
Gen. Mariano Arista (who had been Minis- 
ter of War under Herrera) as president, and 
he was legally and peaceably installed on the 
15th of January, 185 1. He was the most 
industrious and economical of all the presi- 
dents, pursuing the reform policy of his 
predecessor. 

But the spirit of revolution, already sup- 
pressed longer than usual, broke out again in 
less than two years after Arista had taken his 
seat. There were pronunciamentos in Gua- 
dalajara, in Mazatlan, in Culiacan, and (most 
formidable of them all) in Orizaba. Arista 
would not dissolve Congress, and was disin- 
clined to involve the country in another 
bloody civil war. So he resigned the Presi- 
dency and secretly retired to his hacienda 
(January 6, 1853). He subsequently left 
for Europe, and died in Lisbon. It is men- 
tioned, as proof of the honesty of his pubHc 
life, that he died a bankrupt. The statement 
is a reflection upon other public officers in 
Mexico. 



238 A Short History of Mexico, 

He was succeeded by Don Juan Bautista 
Ceballos, the president of the Supreme Court 
of Justice, who took the oath of office on 
the 5th of January, and subsequently re- 
ceived an official appointment to the office 
from Congress. Revolution broke out in 
Jalisco, and spread to other States. Con- 
gress was dissolved by Ceballos, but it re- 
assembled in the house of one of the deputies, 
and appointed in the place of Ceballos a 
Mexican merchant named Don Juan Muciga 
y Osorio. He refused to accept the trouble- 
some gift of the presidency of Mexico while 
revolution was rife in the land. The Liberals 
thereupon, with the object of bringing Santa 
Anna again into power, secured a demonstra- 
tion by the army in favor of Gen. Manuel 
Maria Lombardini, in whose hands Santa 
Anna had left the command of the army 
upon his flight from Mexico after the capture 
of Churubusco. Santa Anna was supposed 
to be in South America at the time. Lom- 
bardini procured his election by the States, 
and on the 15th of April, 1853, Gen. An- 
tonio Lopez de Santa Anna entered Gua- 
dalupe-Hidalgo as the President of Mexico, 
having thus reached that exalted office for 
the sixth time. He organized his govern- 



Santa Anna Dictator. 239 

merit, giving to Don Lucas Alaman the 
premiership. Five days later he entered 
the capital and began his administration. 

It was expected on all sides that Santa 
Anna would restore peace and order to the 
republic. The Mexicans were not fully ac- 
quainted with the man, notwithstanding their 
long experience with him and their frequent 
opportunities for studying his character. He 
began to strengthen his position by increas- 
ing the army and dispensing patronage with 
a lavish hand. At the same time his govern- 
ment became despotic in the extreme, and 
he showed no tolerance whatever toward the 
opponents of his party. So intolerable was 
his conduct that Alaman promptly resigned. 
Santa Anna, supposing that the time had 
arrived for him to secure for himself the 
presidency for life, issued a decree on the 
i6th of December, 1853, declaring himself 
Perpetual Dictator. 

Opposition naturally sprang up in every 
direction. In March, 1854, rebellion broke 
out in Ayotla and in Acapulco. Gen. Juan 
Alvarez and Gen. Ignacio Comonfort were 
the insurgent leaders in Acapulco. Santa 
Anna set out against them at the head of 
four thousand men, and war raged along the 



240 A Short History of Mexico. 

western coast of Mexico until July, 1855, 
when Santa Anna returned to the capital. 

Added to this internecine turbulence, So- 
nora was subjected to an invasion of about 
three hundred French filibusters under the 
Count Raousset de Boulvon, who proposed 
to conquer that State and establish a king- 
dom there. The enterprise came to grief, 
and the Count was apprehended and put to 
death. 

Upon his return from the pursuit of the 
insurgents of the Pacific coast, Santa Anna 
tried to restore quiet in the capital by the 
removal of the Conservative members of his 
cabinet and the appointment of Liberals in 
their places. But this intended conciliatory 
action was taken too late, and he finally gave 
up the governmental experiment as hopeless. 
At three o'clock in the morning of the 9th of 
August, 1855, he secretly left the capital, and 
three days later embarked at Vera Cruz for 
Cuba. 

Thus ended the political career of General 
Santa Anna. He resided for a while in the 
West Indies, and then sought a home in the 
United States. He made overtures in 1863 
to the second empire, but failing to inspire 
confidence in his integrity, he was again 



End of Santa Amia's Career. 241 

exiled. After the fall of the second empire 
he planned an expedition against the gov- 
ernment of Juarez, but was captured in an 
attempt to land at Vera Cruz, and was sen- 
tenced to be shot. His sentence was, through 
the leniency of Juarez, commuted to exile. 
For some time he resided on Staten Island, 
New York. He returned to Mexico under a 
general amnesty after the death of Juarez, 
and died there in obscurity in 1876. The 
tomb of this able and courageous general, 
but restless, ambitious, unscrupulous political 
schemer, may be seen in the Panteon de 
Tepeyacac, on the hill in Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 
and his portrait hangs in the National Mu- 
seum in the city of Mexico. 

Upon the flight of Santa Anna, anarchy 
was imminent in the capital. The most 
prominent promoters of the revolution as- 
sembled quickly, and elected Gen. Romulo 
Diaz de la Vega acting-president, and he 
succeeded in establishing order, but not be- 
fore the people had sacked the house of 
Santa Anna and burned his coach and furni- 
ture, and paid their respects in like manner 
to the houses of his ministers. By a repre- 
sentative assembly Gen. Martin Carrera was 
elected acting-president, and he was installed 

16 



242 A Short History of Mexico. 

on the 15th of August, 1855, but resigned 
on the nth of the following month, when 
the presidency devolved a second time upon 
Gen. Romulo Diaz de la Vega. 

The revolution of Alvarez and Comonfort, 
known as the Plan de Ayotla, was entirely 
successful, and under the wise and just ad- 
ministration of Diaz de la Vega, the country 
was brought to the wholly abnormal state of 
quiet and order. Representatives of the tri- 
umphant party assembled in Cuernavaca and 
elected Gen. Juan Alvarez, president ad in- 
terhn^ and upon the formation of his cabinet 
he named Comonfort his Minister of War. 
Returning to the capital, he transferred the 
presidency to his Minister of War, and on 
the I2th of December, 1855, Gen. Ignacio 
Comonfort entered upon the discharge of 
his duties as acting-president. He was made 
actual president by a large majority in the 
popular election held two years later, and 
was reinstalled on the ist of December, 1857. 
He proved to be one of the most remarkable 
rulers of Mexico, and his administration 
marks the beginning of a new era in Mexican 
history. 

Scarcely had Comonfort begun his rule as 
the substitute of Alvarez, when revolutions 



Ignacio Comonfort, 243 

again broke out and assumed formidable pro- 
portions. Puebla was occupied by 5,000 in- 
surgents. Federal troops sent against them 
joined their cause. Comonfort succeeded in 
raising an army of 16,000 men, well equipped, 
and at its head marched to Puebla and sup- 
pressed the revolution before the end of 
March. But in October another rebellion 
broke out in Puebla, headed by Col. Miguel 
Miramon. The government succeeded in 
suppressing this, as well as one which broke 
out in San Luis Potosi, and another, under 
the leadership of Gen. Tomas Mejia, in 
Queretaro. 

It was by Comonfort that the war between 
the Church and the government, so long 
threatened, was precipitated. In June, 1856, 
he issued a decree ordering the sale of all the 
unimproved real estate held by the Church, 
at its assessed value. The Church was to 
receive the proceeds, but the land was to 
become thereby freed from all ecclesiastical 
control, and become a part of the available 
wealth of the country, to be taken into private 
hands. In September, 1856, he received in- 
formation that certain ecclesiastics, having 
their headquarters in the monastery of San 
Francisco, in the city of Mexico, were con- 



244 ^ Short History of Mexico, 

spiring against his government. He at once 
ordered the Federal troops to take possession 
of the monastery and arrest all the inmates. 
He ordered the opening of the street now 
known as " Independencia " through the prop- 
erty, and finally suppressed the monastery 
and confiscated its property. The decree of 
suppression was recalled on the 19th of Feb- 
ruary, 1857, but the attitude of the Church to 
the government has continued to be inimical 
until the present time. The Church party, 
unable to prevent these aggressions on the 
part of the government at the time, subse- 
quently gathered strength by uniting with 
other malcontents, and was able eventually 
to overthrow Comonfort and set up a rival 
government, to be in its turn overthrown by 
his successor, Juarez, and to submit to further 
aggression. 

On the 5th of February, 1857, the present 
Constitution of Mexico was adopted by Con- 
gress. Comonfort, as Provisional President, 
subscribed it, and it was under its provisions 
that he was elected actual president. But 
ten days after his inauguration in December, 
1857, and his taking the oath to support the 
new Constitution, the President, supposing 
that he could gain the full support of the 



Golpe de Estado. 245 

Liberals, and claiming that he had found the 
operation of the Constitution impracticable, 
dissolved Congress and set the Constitution 
aside. He threw his legal successor, Benito 
Juarez, the president of the Supreme Court 
of Justice, and one of the supporters of the 
new Constitution, into prison. Juarez was 
likewise the promoter of Comonfort's meas- 
ures against the Church, but his imprisonment 
failed to conciliate the Church party. It was 
for some such act of despotism as the golpe 
de estado^ the setting aside of the Constitu- 
tion, " the blow to the State," that the sym- 
pathizers with the Church were watching, and 
they took advantage of it at once. The 
almost immediate result was the rebellion in 
Tacubaya of Gen. Felix Zuloaga and his 
entire brigade. At once the country was 
divided between the adherents of Comonfort 
and the " reactionaries " (reacting from Com- 
onfort's strained efforts at reform) and Church 
sympathizers. The latter gained in strength 
daily. Comonfort discovered too late the 
mistake he had made, restored the Constitu- 
tion, and liberated Juarez, but without the 
desired effect. He organized the National 
Guard and tried to put down the rebellion. 
But Zuloaga, having received the support of 



246 A Short History of Mexico, 

Miramon and others, gained possession of the 
capital. On the 21st of January, 1858, Com- 
onfort left for Vera Cruz, where he t^ok pas- 
sage for the United States, and afterward 
sailed for Europe. 

The capital thus left in the hands of the 
reactionaries, a junta de notables was as- 
sembled, by whom Gen. Felix Zuloaga was 
elected acting-president, and took posses- 
sion of his shadowy office on the 22d of 
January, 1858. But though energetic in his 
military operations, he daily lost favor in the 
capital, even with his own party, and in De- 
cember a conspiracy was formed in Ayotla, 
known as the Plan de Navidady because pro- 
claimed on Christmas day. By this plan 
Zuloaga was deposed and forced to seek 
refuge in the house of the British ambassa- 
dor, and Gen. Manuel Robles Pezuela was 
put in his place. He pursued a concili- 
atory policy until he was replaced by Don 
Jose Ignacio Pavon, who assumed the presi- 
dential office by reason of his position as 
president of the Tribunal of Justice. He 
assembled another Jnnta de Notables, which 
elected Gen. Miguel Miramon, acting-presi- 
dent. Miramon was at the head of the 
reactionary army in the interior of the coun- 



The Anti- Presidents. 247 

try at the time, but returned to the capital, 
and much to the chagrin of the junta by 
whom he had been elected, turned the office 
over to Gen. Felix Zuloaga, who on his 
part conferred enlarged powers and privi- 
leges on Miramon. After an unsuccessful 
campaign against Vera Cruz, which was 
stoutly defended by the enemies of the re- 
actionaries, Miramon returned to the capi- 
tal, and the jimta again set Zuloaga aside, 
and placed Gen. Miguel Miramon upon the 
presidential throne; and he exercised the 
privileges belonging to that office until his 
defeat at Calpulalpam in December, i860. 
He then abandoned the capital and left the 
country. Gen. Jesus Gonzalez Ortega, by 
virtue of his office as commander of the 
Federal army, assumed charge of the govern- 
ment until the tangled maze of Mexican 
politics was sufficiently straightened out to 
permit the return to the capital of the rightful 
ruler. 

Constitutionally (if we may ever use that 
word seriously in connection with Mexican 
affairs), upon the abandonment of the pres- 
idency by Comonfort, the office devolved 
upon the President of the Supreme Court 
of Justice. That office was held at the time 



248 A Short History of Mexico. 

by Don Benito Juarez, who thereupon be- 
came president de jure of Mexico ; and as 
his cause triumphed in the end over all its 
enemies, we may discriminate between the 
two separate lines of the Presidential succes- 
sion to the extent of regarding the line in- 
cluding Zuloaga, Pezuela, Pavon, and Mira- 
mon, as the illegitimate line, and those men 
as anti-presidents ; and Juarez as represent- 
ing the direct and legitimate succession, and 
as the Constitutional President. But the 
most curious specimen of the nomenclature 
adopted in Mexican history is that which 
gives to the struggle between the Church 
party and its allies, and the Constitutional 
government, the name of the War of the 
Reform, and has made " La Refornia " such 
a favorite appellation. What was thereby 
reformed it would be difficult to say. If to 
oppress and rob be to reform, then the 
Church in Mexico was in process of refor- 
mation in those times. But further than the 
suppression of the outreaching power, wealth, 
and influence of the Church, and the assertion 
of the supremacy of the State, no evidences 
of reform are exhibited in the much vaunted 
" Reform " period of Mexican history. The 
Constitutional reforms which took place at 



War of the Reform. 249 

that time, and are yearly celebrated in the 
city of Mexico on the 5th of February, pro- 
duced no other nor more beneficial result 
than that. 

But the "War of the Reform" had all 
the bitterness of a religious war, and was 
the most sanguinary of all the civil wars in 
which Mexico had been engaged. The par- 
ties engaged in it represented all the fac- 
tions of the previous periods. Conservatives, 
clericals, reactionaries, monarchists, were the 
names applied in the years 1859 and i860 
to what had previously been known as York- 
inos, high Liberals, Federalists, and Iturbidis- 
tas, and the cause on whose side Santa Anna 
was always found, whatever might be its name. 
The Liberalists and Progressionists, repre- 
sented as far as was possible the EscoceseSy 
the moderate Liberals, and the Centralists. 

Unquestionably, Juarez, who is thus made 
to appear as a reformer, was the most re- 
markable man Mexico has ever produced. 
He was born in 1806 in the mountains of 
Oaxaca, in a poor little hamlet now bearing 
his name, but then known as San Pablo. 
He belonged to the Zapoteca tribe of Indians. 
Not a drop of Spanish blood flowed in his 
veins. Until he was twelve years of age 



250 A Short History of Mexico. 

he spoke only the Indian dialect in use in 
his native village, and could neither read nor 
write. Then being given a start in life he 
was educated for the bar in the city of 
Oaxaca, rising rapidly both in his profession 
and in the politics of his country. He ex- 
perienced all the vicissitudes of political life 
in Mexico, including arrest, imprisonment, 
sentence of death, escape, exile, amnesty; 
and he held the offices of legislator, judge, 
senator, governor, and cabinet-minister, be- 
fore he became by popular election in 1857 
president of the Supreme Court of Justice 
in the government of Comonfort, and in the 
line of the succession to the presidency in 
case of a vacancy. Very early in his politi- 
cal career he had evinced a hostile feeling 
toward the Church within whose pale he 
had been born and reared and whose minis- 
try he was once on the point of entering. 
He was the dictator of Comonfort's vigorous 
measures against the Church. 

Upon the flight of Comonfort, Juarez was 
utterly without support or means to establish 
his government. Being driven out of the 
capital by Zuloaga he went to Guadalajara, 
and then by way of the Pacific coast, Pana- 
ma, and New Orleans, to Vera Cruz. There 



Benito Juarez, 251 

he succeeded in setting up the Constitutional 
government, supporting it out of the customs 
duties collected at the ports of entry on the 
Gulf coast. It was war to the knife between 
the President in Vera Cruz and the Anti-Pres- 
idents in the capital, and blood flowed freely 
upon the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre. 

On the I2th of July, 1859, Juarez made a 
long stride in advance of Comonfort by is- 
suing his famous decree, " nationalizing " — 
that is, sequestrating, or more properly, con- 
fiscating — the property of the Church. It 
was enforced in Vera Cruz at once. A tall 
church-tower there, now used as a light- 
house, and bearing the name of Juarez, is a 
fit monument to the famous decree of se- 
questration. The armies of the two rival 
governments met in conflict on many oc- 
casions. It was at Calpulalpam, in a battle 
lasting from the 21st to the 24th of Decem- 
ber, i860, that Miramon was defeated and 
forced to leave the country. General Ortega, 
in command of the forces of Juarez, ad- 
vanced to the capital and held it for the 
return of his chief. 

When the army of Juarez entered the 
capital on the 27th of December, the decree 
of sequestration began to be executed there 



252 A Short History of Mexico, 

with brutal severity. It was principally from 
the wealth of the Church that the rival 
government had derived its support. Not 
only would the Juarez government cause it 
to disgorge for the benefit of the triumphant 
administration, but it would punish its crime 
in harboring the enemy. Monasteries were 
closed forthwith, and the members of the 
various religious orders were expelled the 
country. Within a few weeks the work of 
demolition began. Jewels and pictures were 
seized, the latter going to San Carlos Acad- 
emy. Bells were taken from the towers 
and sent to the ordnance foundry. Build- 
ings were sold, and many of them dismantled. 
Streets were opened through some of the 
Church property and some handsome edifi- 
ces were left to decay. 

It is said that from the " nationalized " 
church property the government secured 
$20,000,000, without, as subsequent events 
showed, deriving any permanent benefit from 
it. It helped to precipitate another war, in 
which it was all dissipated, and the country 
was poorer than ever. The face of the cap- 
ital was at once greatly changed, and if the 
tourist now seeks a monument perpetuating 
the glorious Reform let him not seek it in the 



Monuments of the Reform, 253 

Paseo de la Reforma, which commemorates 
it only in name. He may in imagination 
see the name " Reform " mockingly written 
upon many buildings now devoted to secular, 
even in some cases to base uses, whose fronts 
exhibit sculptured crosses, sacred monograms, 
and other designs marking them as once the 
property of the Church. These are the mon- 
uments of the so-called Reform decree, and 
of the fury with which it broke upon the 
beautiful capital whose pride it was once 
to call itself a '* city of Churches and 
Palaces." 



CHAPTER XL 

The Foreign Intervention, the French Inva- 
sion, AND THE Rise of the Second Empire. 

The National creditors and their claims. — The Treaty of London. 

— Arrival of allied army in Vera Cruz. — Measures of the Juarez 
government. — Decree of January, 1862, and its Execution. — The 
Intervention becomes an Invasion. — The scheme of Napoleon 
III. laid bare. — The French army reinforced. — Battle of Cinco 
de Mayo. — Forey the dictator. — Capture of Puebla and Occu- 
pation of the Capital. — The Regents. — The Assembly of No- 
tables. — Election of Emperor. — The Austrian Archduke. — 
His previous career. — Popular election under French bayonets. 

— Treaty of Miramar. — Coronation of Ferdinand Maximilian. 

— Journey of Maximilian and Carlota to their new empire. — 
The regeneration of Mexico. — Adoption of an Imperial heir. — 
Character of Maximilian. — Benefactions of the Empress. — Dif- 
ficulties in the vsray of the Emperor's success. — Disappointment 
of Napoleon III. 

THE decree issued by Juarez from Vera 
Cruz in 1859, nationalizing the property 
of the Church, was quickly followed up by a 
decree suspending for two years payment on 
all foreign debts. The national debt at that 
time amounted to about $100,000,000, ac- 
cording to some statements, and was divided 
up between England, Spain, and France. Eng- 
land's share was about $80,000,000. France's 



The Treaty of London. 255 

claim was comparatively insignificant. They 
were all said to have been founded upon usu- 
rious or fraudulent contracts, and the French 
claim was especially dubious. It originated 
in the claim of a Swiss banking-house, the 
head of which had become a naturalized 
French citizen, with the intention, as it would 
seem, of aiding in the deep-laid scheme about 
to be developed. Upon the issuing of the 
decree suspending payment on these foreign 
debts, the three creditor nations at once broke 
off diplomatic relations with Mexico, and Na- 
poleon III., of France, proceeded to carry out 
a plan which had for some time occupied his 
mind, having been suggested to him by the 
reactionary government of Mexico during the 
period of the Reform, as a means whereby 
that government could secure its triumph 
over Juarez. 

It was at his instance that a convention 
was held in London by representatives of the 
three creditor nations, and on the 31st of 
October, 1861, the Treaty of London was 
signed. This treaty proposed the sending to 
Mexico of naval and military forces sufficient 
to seize and hold the Gulf ports of entry, and 
apply the customs duties thereof to the pay- 
ment of Mexico's indebtedness. No territory 



256 A Short History of Mexico, 

was to be appropriated, nor was the right of 
the Mexicans to arrange their own form of 
government to be interfered with. Without 
waiting to learn the views of the United States 
government, to whom a copy of this treaty 
was sent with an invitation to join the ex- 
pedition, the requisite forces were equipped 
and sent forward to Mexico, arrived off Vera 
Cruz in December, 1861, and landing, took 
possession of that city. The allied army con- 
sisted of six thousand Spanish, and twenty- 
five hundred French soldiers, and seven 
hundred English marines, all under the com- 
mand of the Spanish marshal. Prim. 

The Juarez government, apprised in ad- 
vance of what was about to take place, 
exerted itself to the utmost to oppose the 
threatened invasion. Appeals were made to 
Mexicans to lay aside their personal feuds and 
unite against the common foe. The army was 
reorganized and increased, and money was 
raised for extraordinary defensive measures. 
And with the object more particularly of 
suppressing the monarchical party that, had 
long been in existence, and was known to be 
in sympathy with the French invaders, Juarez 
issued a decree, in January, 1862, declaring 
that all Mexicans between the ages of sixteen 



Juarezes Inhuman Decree. 257 

and sixty, who did not take up arms in de- 
fence of the repubhc were traitors ; that any 
armed invasion of the country without a pre- 
vious declaration of war, or any invitation of 
such an invasion by Mexicans or foreign 
residents of Mexico, was a crime against the 
independence of the country, and was punish- 
able with death. Extraordinary powers over 
the persons and properties of the citizens 
were given to civil officers, and courts-martial 
were established in the place of the ordinary 
tribunals of justice. The severest terms of 
this decree were speedily visited upon a Mexi- 
can officer of high standing. He was arrested 
on his way to the French camp and executed. 
But the result of this action of Juarez was the 
reverse of what had been intended ; and the 
ranks of the monarchical party were rein- 
forced from among those who had formerly 
been indifferent. 

To avoid war, if it were possible, Juarez 
first resorted to diplomacy, and a meeting of 
commissioners representing Mexico and the 
three foreign nations was arranged to take 
place at Orizaba in April. But in a prelimi- 
nary convention held in Soledad, near Vera 
Cruz, in February, the true objects of France 
came to light, and England and Spain with- 

17 



258 A Sho7't History of Mexico. 

drew from the enterprise, which was thereby 
changed from a foreign intervention into a 
French invasion. 

The object of France — a scheme that had 
long dazzled Napoleon III. — was the erec- 
tion of an Empire in Mexico that would be 
in a manner feudatory to France. It was de- 
signed to succor the Latin race in its unequal 
struggle with the Anglo Saxon, and prevent 
the further spread of democratic institutions 
in the New World. The time was propitious. 
Civil war was engaging the attention of the 
United States; and the indications at the 
time were that the Confederate States would 
succeed in the struggle. When that result 
was finally attained the Confederacy was to 
be the ally of the Mexican empire as against 
the United States government and its enforce- 
ment of the " Monroe Doctrine." 

Accordingly, when the English and Span- 
ish troops were withdrawn from Mexico all 
efforts at concealment were thrown off by the 
French commissioners. Reinforcements ar- 
rived increasing the army to about five thou- 
sand men, placed under the command of 
General Laurencez. The co-operation of the 
opponents of Juarez and his policy was invited, 
and the result was the raising of an army 



Battle of Cinco de Mayo, 259 

composed of reactionaries and monarchists, 
under the command of General Marquez, an 
adherent of the late Zuloaga and Miramon 
governments. These two armies united and 
advanced toward the capital. They were 
defeated before the gates of Puebla in the 
famous battle of Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of 
May, 1862), — a battle in which General Zara- 
goza was the hero, and Gen. Porfirio Diaz, 
Felix Berriozabal, and others were partici- 
pants. It is this battle of Puebla that is an- 
nually commemorated in the vicinity of the 
capital. 

The combined armies after their repulse 
from Puebla retired to Orizaba, where they 
were reinforced in September by troops from 
France, raising the invading army to twelve 
thousand^ and General Forey succeeded Lau- 
rencez in the command. P'orey assumed a 
sort of military dictatorship of the country, 
declaring that he had come to free the Mexi- 
cans from the tyrannical rule of Juarez, and 
to destroy his government. 

The combined forces under Forey were 
able to capture Puebla in May, 1863, and 
then advanced to the capital, Juarez and his 
ministers taking flight upon their approach. 
In taking possession of the city of Mexico 



26o A Short History of Mexico, 

on the I ith of June, the French commander 
appointed a Supreme Council of the Nation, 
composed of thirty-five eminent monarchists. 
This Council elected Juan B. Ormeacha, 
Bishop of Puebla, Gen. Juan N. Almonte, 
Gen. Mariano Salas, and Pelagio A. La- 
bastida, Archbishop of Mexico, regents, 
pending the establishment of such a form of 
government as would coincide with the plans 
of Napoleon III. An assembly of notables, 
composed of two hundred and thirty-one rep- 
resentatives of all but four of the Mexican 
States, apparently selected without regard to 
the proportions of population in the several 
States, was the next step in the direction of 
the Napoleonic plan. This assembly, in a 
meeting held on the lOth of July, adopted a 
monarchical form of government, and offered 
the crown to Ferdinand Maximilian, Arch- 
duke of Austria. It is significant of the con- 
tinued existence of the monarchical party 
that survived the overthrow of the first em- 
pire in 1824, that Senor Jose Maria Gutierrez 
de Estrada, then in Europe by reason of his 
temerity in proposing in 1840 such a form of 
government as was now being established, 
was made a member of the committee ap- 
pointed to wait upon Maximilian, apprise 



Ferdinand Maximilian. 261 

him of his election, urge his acceptance of 
the proffered crown, and hasten his depart- 
ure for Mexico. 

Maximilian represented the Austrian dy- 
nasty which had preceded the house of Bour- 
bon upon the throne of Spain. The Assem- 
bly of Notables therefore, perhaps unwittingly, 
revived the Plan de Iguala, and carried out 
its provisions more successfully than Iturbide 
had done, though after a lapse of nearly half 
a century. The selection of Maximilian was 
made clearly at the dictation of Napoleon III, 
and it was stipulated that in the event of the 
refusal of Maximilian, the offer of the crown 
was to be made to a Catholic prince to be 
selected by the Emperor of France. It was 
probably before the signing of the treaty of 
London that the selection of the Austrian 
Archduke was made by Napoleon III., with 
the intention of recovering his lost prestige 
with European courts. " To give an Ameri- 
can throne and an imperial crown to the Most 
Catholic House of Hapsburg would be likely 
to conciliate both the papal and the Austrian 
courts, with each of which the Emperor of 
France was under a cloud." 

Maximilian was the second son of the 
Archduke Francis Charles of Austria and 



262 A Short History of Mexico, 

the Archduchess Sophia of Bavaria, and the 
brother of Francis Joseph, emperor of Aus- 
tria. He was born *' Archduke of Austria, 
Prince of Hungary, Bohemia, and Lorrena, 
and Count of Hapsburg," and was in his 
thirty-second year. He was married to Car- 
lota, daughter of Leopold I. of Belgium. 
His education had been liberally conducted, 
and he had travelled extensively. In 1854 he 
was appointed commander of the Austrian 
navy, and he subsequently served with great 
success as governor of Lombardy and Venice. 
When in October, 1863, the Austrian Arch- 
duke received the formal offer of the Mexican 
crown from the committee of the Assembly of 
Notables, at his palace of Miramar at Trieste, he 
replied that he would accept the same, ''when 
the vote of the Assembly of Notables could 
be ratified by the Mexican people in a gen- 
eral election, and when the European nations 
would give him sufficient guarantees that the 
throne would be protected from dangers which 
might threaten it." The Franco-Mexican im- 
perial army had been increased by reinforce- 
ments from France, and then numbered 
about thirty-eight thousand men, under the 
command of Marshal Bazaine, the ever faithful 
servant of Napoleon HI., who had succeeded 



Maximilian Accepts, 263 

Forey, and had occupied all the interior 
* States of Mexico. There was little difficulty 
in obtaining, in the places occupied by the 
French arms, such a vote as would satisfy the 
scruples of the Austrian. The guarantees de- 
manded by him as the second condition of 
his acceptance were duly given by Napo- 
leon III. in the famous Treaty of Miramar, 
whereby he promised to maintain the French 
army in Mexico until the army of the empire 
could be thoroughly organized. Eight thou- 
sand men were to remain there for six years, 
and the empire was to be amply protected 
from the incursions of the Americans. 

It was on the lOth of April, 1864, that the 
imposing coronation took place at Miramar, 
the Archducal palace of Maximilian, and the 
Emperor and Empress set out for their new 
home. A visit was made in Rome on the 
way, and an interview had with his Holiness 
Pope Pius IX., and on the 29th of May, 1864, 
the imperial party landed at Vera Cruz, and 
stood upon the soil of the new-made empire. 
The journey to the capital was made prin- 
cipally in carriages. In Puebla, on the way, 
the twenty-fifth birthday of the Empress was 
celebrated, on the 7th of June, and on the 
I2th of that month the entry was made into the 



264 A Short History of Mexico, 

capital by way of Guadalupe, amid the most 
enthusiastic demonstrations of joy on the 
part of the people. A Te Deum in the great 
cathedral gave it the character of a religious 
demonstration. 

A few days later the Emperor and Empress 
took up their residence at Chapultepec, thus 
adding to the interest which the visitor takes 
in that magnificent castle. An imperial 
court was formed, and the new rulers set out 
conscientiously upon the work which they 
hoped to accomplish, and which Maximilian 
termed " the regeneration of Mexico." He 
made journeys into various parts of the 
country, observing closely its needs and de- 
vising ways for supplying them. He sought 
more especially to ameliorate the condition 
of the six million Indians whom he found 
among the population of his empire. He 
also did much to improve his capital. The 
Paseo de la Reforma (that name was not be- 
stowed by him), leading out to Chapultepec, 
was planned by him and is a monument to 
his taste and public spirit. 

His government was absolute, but not 
more so than any that had preceded it, nor 
than those which have succeeded it. To pro- 
vide for the succession of the empire, Max- 



The Emperor and Empress, 265 

imiiian and Carlota, who were themselves 
childless, adopted Agustin de Iturbide, the 
nephew of the first Emperor, thus establish- 
ing another connecting link between the 
second empire and that which resulted from 
the Plan de Iguala. 

That Maximilian was personally of pure 
character cannot be disputed. But he had 
not sufficient strength to devise a strong 
policy of government and maintain it. And 
he was altogether unsuspicious of the men 
with whom he had to deal; and hence he 
suffered from his over-confidence in one after 
another, beginning with Napoleon III. and 
continuing down to the petted officer of his 
army who finally betrayed him into the 
hands of the republic. He was possessed of 
a large amount of personal magnetism, and 
it is no wonder that he found friends who 
were willing to go to death with him. 

The Empress devoted her efforts and her 
fortune to the relief of the poor and the suf- 
fering. The Casa de Maternidad (lying-in 
hospital) in the city of Mexico may be 
regarded as a noble monument of her good- 
ness to the people of her realm, though it 
by no means marks the extent of her bene- 
factions. 



266 A Short History of Mexico. 

The life of the capital and some of the 
larger cities in the vicinity was gay during 
the bright days of the empire. But the 
bright days did not last long. The Emper- 
or's efforts to reconcile the various political 
factions, especially those who composed for 
the time being the Imperial party, failed to 
find favor with the clerical party, the strongest 
of them all. The Church had demanded the 
immediate abrogation of the Reform Laws of 
Juarez, but Maximilian did not (because he 
could not) yield to this demand. Thus the 
Emperor found the faction upon which he 
relied for the greatest support among those 
who treated him the most coldly. The liber- 
als criticised his position in the country, 
maintained as it was by foreign arms. So 
that, so far from reconciling the various fac- 
tions and consolidating them in a strong 
Imperial party, he found them one by one 
drawing off from him, and while not openly 
hostile, doing little or nothing to aid him in 
his task. He was thus thrown back upon 
the French army as his only support, while 
the commander of the French army was the 
most bitterly hated by the Mexicans of all 
those who were involved in the second Im- 
perial experiment in Mexico. The Emperor 



The Second Empire Doomed. 267 

fell far short of being an able financier, and 
in the maintenance of the court pageantry 
to which he had been accustomed, and which 
he considered a part of the imperial dignity, 
and in the advancement of his schemes for 
internal improvements, he exhausted the rev- 
enues of the country without developing its 
resources, and involved the empire in debt 
And Napoleon III. was disappointed in find- 
ing what he hoped would be an empire 
whence his own could derive sorhe financial 
benefit, a constant drain upon his exchequer. 
So that what would unquestionably have 
been, all things considered, the redemption 
of Mexico, could it have been maintained, 
was doomed to collapse almost from the 
very start. But the direct and immediate 
causes of the overthrow of the second em- 
pire were from without and not from within, 
as we shall see. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Fall of the Second Empire, and the Re- 
establishment OF the Republic. 

Downfall of the Second Empire. — The Decree of October 3, 
1865. — Its Effect upon the Imperial Cause. — Warning from 
Washington. — Napoleon III. withdraws his Support. — The 
heroic Carlota. — Her Interview with the Emperor of France. — 
Her Insanity. — Vacillations of Maximilian. — The French 
Troops retire. — Maximilian in Command of the Imperial 
Army. — He Removes his Capital to Queretaro. — The Mouse- 
Trap. — The City besieged by the Republicans. — General 
Marquez. — Treachery of Lopez. — Queretaro taken by the Re- 
publicans. — Surrender of Maximilian. — The juvenile Court. — 
Charges against the Emperor. — The Trial and Sentence. — 
Reprieve. — Efforts to save Maximilian. — His hei-oic Con- 
duct. — The Execution. — Marquez and Vidaurri at the Cap- 
ital. — Scheme of Marquez. — Its disastrous Result. — The 
Capital besieged and taken by the Republicans, — Return of 
the Republican Government. — Execution of Vidaurri and 
O'Horan. — Treatment of Imperialists. — Amnesty. — Juarez 
re-elected President. — His Death. — Sebastian Lerdo de 
Tejada. — Juan N. Mendez. — Porfirio Diaz. — Manuel Gon- 
zales. — Reflections in the Panteon de San Fernando. 

THE actual downfall of the second em- 
pire began in 1865. In October of 
that year Maximilian was betrayed by some 
of his advisers (presumably by Marshal Ba- 
zaine, who left no savory reputation behind 



Decree of October J y i86^. 26g 

him in Mexico) into issuing a decree some- 
what of the nature of that with which Juarez 
had attempted to suppress the rising mon- 
archical party in 1862. The repubHcan 
government, fleeing before the French forces 
in June, 1863, had sought refuge first in San 
Luis Potosi. It had subsequently gone to 
Saltillo, thence to Chihuahua, and finally, still 
fleeing before the Imperial forces, had been 
established in Paso del Norte. It was in the 
course of these wanderings that ex-President 
Comonfort, then a member of Juarez' cab- 
inet, was assassinated. 

While the republican government was 
maintaining itself as best it might at Paso 
del Norte word was brought to Maximilian 
that Juarez had abandoned the country, 
crossed the Rio Grande, and sought refuge in 
the United States. The decree thereupon 
issued was utterly at variance with the gen- 
eral spirit of the Imperial legislation. It 
goes by the name of its date, October 3, 
1865. It stated that the Republican Presi- 
dent had abandoned his government and his 
country, and that the cause sustained by him 
with so much valor had succumbed. The 
character of the struggle was therefore radi- 
cally changed. It was no longer between 



270 A Short History of Mexico. 

two opposing systems of government, but 
between the surviving gov(5rnment, the em- 
pire estabhshed by the will of the people, 
and opposing individuals. All persons bear- 
ing arms against the empire were declared 
bandits, were to be tried by courts-martial, 
and condemned to death. " Hereafter," said 
an army order issued by Bazaine in further- 
ance of the Imperial decree (and this is. ad- 
vanced to attest his part in the authorship of 
that decree), — "hereafter the troops will 
make no prisoners, and there will be no ex- 
change of prisoners." Every one taken with 
arms was to be put to death. Rank was to 
receive no consideration. And within a few 
days the decree was rendered effective in the 
State of Michoacan upon Arteaga, Villa- 
gomez, Salazar, and Felix Diaz, four most 
estimable Republican officers, arrested by the 
Imperialists, debarred the rights of prisoners- 
of-war, tried by court-martial, condemned, 
and shot in Uruapam the 21st of October. 

The Imperial cause suffered severely by 
these measures. Some of its stanchest 
friends refused longer to support an empire 
that could be guilty of such cruel injustice, 
while the hitherto neutrals threw the weight 
of their influence into the Republican cause. 



Monroe Doctrine Enforced. 271 

Maximilian discovered his mistake when it 
was too late to profit by the discovery. 

When the war in the United States closed, 
in the spring of 1865, the government at 
Washington was able to devote its attention 
to the disregard of the Monroe Doctrine of 
which Napoleon III. had been guilty. From 
the time when the first French troops landed 
in Mexico the French government had been 
repeatedly warned that its action would be 
regarded as a cause of war with the United 
States ; but such warnings were unheeded so 
long as the United States had more war al- 
ready on hand than could conveniently be 
disposed of. But when the war closed, leav- 
ing the United States territorially intact, the 
warnings of the Secretary of State in Wash- 
ington had a different sound in French ears, 
particularly as they were emphasized by the 
sending of an army to the Mexican frontier 
to co-operate with the Republican troops, if 
needed, in expelling the European invaders. 
The French government thought better of 
its relations to the Monroe Doctrine and 
despatches were forwarded to Mexico, ap- 
prising MaximiHan of the intention of France 
to withdraw its arms and its support from the 
empire. 



2^2 A Short History of Mexico. 

It was on the 31st of May, 1866, that Max- 
imilian received word of the intentions of 
Napoleon III. regarding the withdrawal of the 
troops. His courage forsook him for the 
moment, and his first impulse was to abdicate 
and return to Europe. He was dissuaded 
from, taking this foolish step by the coura- 
geous Empress, who offered to go to France 
and plead with the French Emperor in person 
for the strict fulfilment of the Treaty of Mir- 
amar. The very next day she set out upon 
this mission, and her journey and the result 
of it are among the most heroic incidents in 
the whole history of Mexico, and the very 
saddest. Arriving in Paris, her first efforts 
to obtain an interview with Napoleon III. 
were unavailing. When finally she succeeded 
in confronting him he not only refused to 
extend any further aid to the empire of his 
own device in Mexico, but treated Carlota 
with brutal impoliteness. He finally dis- 
missed her by asking by what route she pre- 
ferred to have the imperial railway- coach 
convey her out of Finance. She repaired to 
Rome and sought the aid of his Holiness 
Pius IX. Here also she met with disappoint- 
ments. Her reception at the Vatican was 
not what she had been led to anticipate. 



The Emperor s Distress. 273 

Under the intense strain of anxiety and dis- 
appointment she was taken sick. Brain fever 
ensued and on the 4th of October she was 
pronounced hopelessly insane. She was 
taken to Miramar, and afterwards to Brussels, 
where she still remains in strict seclusion. 

The news which reached the Emperor at 
Chapultepec of the issue of the mission of 
Carlota was such as to crush him completely. 
For a long time he debated with himself 
whether he ought to make any further at- 
tempt to maintain the empire. He at last 
set out for Vera Cruz, postponing his final 
decision until he could receive dispatches 
expected from Europe. He went no farther 
than Orizaba, and there spent two months in 
the most anxious vacillation. He went so 
far at one tirne as to forward his abdication 
to the French commissioners sent to co- 
operate with Bazaine in securing that docu- 
ment, — that being the easiest way suggesting 
itself to Louis Napoleon by which he could 
redeem his pledges to Maximilian and avoid 
war with the United States. But upon the 
refusal of the commissioners to accept some 
of the terms of the abdication he withdrew it, 
leaving Louis Napoleon to extricate himself 
from his delicate position in some other way. 



274 A Sho7^t History of Mexico. 

Letters received from Europe and over- 
tures received from the clerical party in 
Mexico, pledging its support and the treas- 
ures of the Church, decided the question. 
At the same time General Miramon returned 
to the country and proffered his services to 
the Emperor. He and General Marquez 
pledged themselves to raise an army suffi- 
cient to replace the retiring French troops. 
The Emperor accordingly returned to the 
capital and made the hacienda de la Teja, 
west of the city, his headquarters. 

The French troops under Bazaine first con- 
centrated in the vicinity of the capital where 
the exchange of prisoners (conducted in a 
manner creditable to both the Imperialists 
and the Republicans) occupied some time. 
It was in January, 1867, that the French sol- 
diers began to retire to Vera Cruz. The 
embarkation took place in March. Bazaine 
himself was the last to embark, and his final 
act upon Mexican soil was to write a letter 
to the Emperor begging him to abdicate and 
offering him a chance to return to Europe. 

A few foreign officers and soldiers, Aus- 
trians and Belgians, chose to remain with the 
Emperor in Mexico. Maximilian in person 
assumed the command of the armies raised 



Qiieretaro. 2'j^ 

by Miramon and Marquez. But they fell 
far short of what had been promised. The 
promises of funds with which the Church 
had been so lavish, were but partially ful- 
filled, and the funds actually furnished from 
the treasures of the Church were wholly in- 
adequate for the support of the empire. 

Induced by the strength of the Church in 
Queretaro, Maximilian adopted the ill-ad- 
vised measure of leaving the city of Mexico 
and making Queretaro his capital and the 
basis of his operations. He concentrated 
his forces there, and found it, what he him- 
self termed it, " a mouse-trap ; " for no 
sooner was he established there with his 
generals, Miramon, Mejia, Marquez, and 
Mendez, and with the greater part of the 
Imperialist army, than the Republican forces, 
hitherto scattered and disorganized, began to 
gather from the North, and united under the 
command of Gen. Mariano Escobedo ; and 
about the ist of March, 1867, the town of 
Queretaro was completely surrounded. A 
siege was begun and lasted two months and 
a half On one occasion General Marquez 
with a few soldiers succeeded in breaking 
through the Republican lines and hastened 
to the city of Mexico to bring troops to the 



2/6 A Short History of Mexico. 

relief of the besieged Imperialists; but he 
proved false to the Emperor, and attempted 
to set up a government of his own in the 
South, with disastrous results to himself and 
to his followers. 

The besieged army in Oueretaro had ex- 
perienced all the horrors incident to a siege, 
when on the 14th of May a council of war 
was held to adopt a plan for a sortie to, be 
made that night. It was to be conducted 
by Gen. Tomas Mejia, and he begged that 
he might be allowed twenty-four hours in 
which to perfect his arrangements. His re- 
quest was granted. Immediately upon the 
breaking up of the council of war Col. Mi- 
guel Lopez, a favorite of both the Emperor 
and the Empress from the very day when 
they entered the city of Mexico, and the 
recipient of many favors from them, went 
over to the Republican camp and gave 
such information as would enable the Re- 
publican forces to enter the city the follow- 
ing morning at daybreak. 

It was thus that, early on the morning of 
the 15th of May, a few Republican soldiers, 
appearing at the gate of the convent of La 
Cruz, the Imperial headquarters in Quere- 
taro, were allowed to enter and make the 



The Emperor a Prisoner, 2'j'j 

guards their prisoners. The alarm being 
given, the Emperor arose, hastily dressed, 
and hurried through the city to the Cerro 
de las Campanas, — the Hill of the Bells. 
He was soon joined by his body-guard and 
General Mejia. Miramon was wounded on 
his way thither, and was made prisoner. 
The whole garrison at La Cruz, taken by 
surprise, were made prisoners, the troops 
elsewhere were thrown into confusion, and 
though few guns were fired, the Republi- 
cans were soon in complete possession of 
the town. 

As it grew lighter, a survey of the situa- 
tion from the Cerro revealed the fact to 
Mejia that further resistance would be utterly 
useless. He so advised his chief. " Then 
I am no longer emperor," said Maximilian 
as a white flag was displayed, attracting 
the attention of General Escobedo. When 
the Republican Commander rode up to the 
Cerro, Maximilian delivered his sword into 
his hand. 

The Imperialist prisoners were committed 
to the Convent of La Cruz. In a few days 
they were removed to the Capuchin Monas- 
tery. Juarez, who had returned with his 
ministers to San Luis Potosi, issued an order 



2/8 A Short History of Mexico. 

for the trial of the Emperor, and Generals 
Mejia and MIramon. A military court was 
accordingly convened, under the decree of 
January, 1862, and sat in the Iturbide The- 
atre. It consisted of a lieutenant-colonel 
of the Republican army and six captains of 
artillery. The oldest member of this court 
was twenty-three years of age. The others 
had scarcely reached their majority. One 
was only eighteen. 

The charges brought against Maximilian 
w^ere treason, usurpation of the public power, 
filibustering, trying to prolong the civil war 
in Mexico, and finally signing the decree of 
October 3, 1865. Miramon and Mejia were 
tried as accomplices, and although all were 
ably defended by prominent lawyers, the juv- 
enile court, apparently selected for the pur- 
pose of condemning, found them all guilty on 
the i^th of June, and sentenced them to be 
shot on the afternoon of the i6th. They 
were that day reprieved until the morning 
of the 19th. 

In the mean time every exertion was made 
in Mexico and abroad to save the life of the 
Austrian Archduke. But Juarez, at San Luis 
Potosi, refused all petitions made on behalf 
of the unfortunate prisoner. Maximilian 



Execution of Maximilian. 279 

made no appeals on his own behalf, but 
absenting himself from the trial, he devoted 
himself to arranging his private affairs. His 
only appeal to the Republican government 
was on behalf of his unhappy companions, 
Miramon and Mejia. His conduct through- 
out was such as to win the admiration of all 
who saw him. He was comforted in his last 
hours by the report brought to him that his 
beloved Carlota was dead, and he looked 
forward to meeting her soon beyond the 
grave. 

At sunrise on the morning of the 19th of 
June, 1867, the Emperor and his two gallant 
companions in arms were taken to the Cerro 
de las Campanas and the preparations for the 
execution were quickly, made. Maximilian 
yielded the central place, the place of hon- 
or, to Miramon, as a tribute to his bravery, 
and took his own place at the left of the line 
marked out for the three condemned men. 
He gave presents to the soldier executioners, 
bidding them aim at his body, not at his 
head, and then addressed the soldiers of the 
Republican army and the immense throng 
standing in sorrowful silence upon the hill- 
sides. He said : " Mexicans, I die for a just 
cause, — the independence of Mexico. God 



28o A Short History of Mexico. 

grant that my blood may bring happiness to 
my new country. Viva Mexico ! " Miramon 
echoed his Viva Mexico^ and the fatal volley 
was fired. Maximilian, thrown to the ground 
but not instantly killed, sprang to his feet 
uttering the most agonizing groans. A sol- 
dier advanced, and gave what is called the 
golpe de gj'acia (''the blow of mercy"), a well- 
aimed shot that pierced the heart of the 
Emperor, and stretched his lifeless body be- 
side those of his companions. He was in 
the thirty-fifth year of his age and has been 
lamented all over the world. 

The body of the Emperor was carefully 
embalmed by the order of the Republican 
government, and kept at the Capuchin Mon- 
astery, until, after a delay of several months 
(unnecessarily lengthened by diplomatic blun- 
ders on the part of the Austrian government), 
permission was given to remove it to Austria. 
It was taken to the city of Mexico and 
deposited in the hospital of San Andres. 
Thence it was taken, on the I2th of Novem- 
ber, 1867, to Vera Cruz, where it was em- 
barked on the " Novara," the ship in which 
the Emperor had begun his travels in 185 1, 
and in which he and the Empress had come 
to Mexico in 1864. The body was solemnly 



Marquez. 281 

received in Trieste in January, 1868, and 
taken to Vienna, where on the 20th of that 
month it was consigned to the Imperial vault 
in the Church of the Capuchins. There it 
now rests. 

After the fall of Queretaro, the city of 
Mexico and Vera Cruz alone of all the 
important cities of the country remained in 
the hands of the Imperialists. On the 25th 
of March, 1867, when Marquez succeeded in 
breaking through the wall of Republican en- 
campments surrounding Queretaro, and set 
out for the capital, he was accompanied by 
Gen. Santiago Vidaurri, to whom the Em- 
peror had entrusted the military government 
of the capital. Reaching his destination, 
Marquez assumed command of five thou- 
sand of the best troops to be raised there, 
but instead of returning to the relief of the 
besieged army in Queretaro, he set out upon 
the accomplishment of a purpose of his own. 
He fancied that Mexico was likely to be 
divided into separate nations, Juarez main- 
taining his government in one, Maximilian 
building up his empire in another. Mar- 
quez was anxious to establish himself in a 
third, with Puebla as its capital. Puebla was 



282 A Short History of Mexico. 

at the time in the hands of the Imperialists, 
but was menaced by Republicans under Gen. 
Porfirio Diaz, and before Marquez could reach 
the city it surrendered. On his way Mar- 
quez fell in with the army and suffered a 
severe loss. Rallying his forces he attacked 
the Republicans again, but after a battle of 
three days his army was cut to pieces, and 
he escaped almost alone to the city of 
Mexico. 

Upon his return to the capital Marquez 
found the Imperalists there so demoralized 
that had an assault been made the Repub- 
licans might easily have taken the place. 
He superseded Vidaurri, and establishing his 
headquarters in Santiago-Tlatelolco he raised 
an army of six thousand soldiers and dis- 
posed them for the defence of the city. Gen- 
eral Diaz approached the capital, and as soon 
as Queretaro fell was joined by a part of the 
army from the North. A siege was begun 
and lasted several weeks. The occupants of 
the city, besides suffering from the cruelties 
and despotism of Marquez' dictatorship, 
experienced all the horrors incident to a pro- 
tracted siege, when, the day after the execu- 
tion of Maximilian, relief came to them in 
the form of an attack made by the Republi- 



The Republic Triumphant. 283 

cans from all sides, which forced the surren- 
der of Marquez. The following day (21st of 
June, 1867) the Republican troops entered the 
capital. Vera Cruz surrendered on the 4th 
of July. 

On the 15 th of July President Juarez with 
his ministry re-entered the capital. It was to 
the Republicans a day of rejoicing. To the 
Imperialists it was a day of anxiety. The 
wealthier residents of the capital were mostly 
Imperialists, and ladies were generally found 
wearing mourning for the late Emperor. 

The triumphing republic, however, dealt len- 
iently with the Imperialist leaders. Vidaurri 
had been executed in the plaza de Santo 
Domingo before the arrival of the President. 
Marquez had a long score of cruelties and 
robberies, as well as purely political crimes, 
to answer for, and would have fared ill at the 
hands of the Republicans had he not escaped 
out of the country and remained in exile. 
Nineteen of the prominent prisoners taken 
at the fall of Queretaro were tried in that 
city and condemned to death. The sentence 
was afterwards commuted to imprisonment 
and exile, and finally remitted entirely. Of 
more than two hundred prisoners confined 
in the old convents in the city of Mexico, 



284 A Short History of Mexico. 

the Ensefianza, Santa Brigida, Regina, and 
Santiago-Tlatelolco, one only was made to 
suffer the death penalty. It was Gen. Tomas 
O'Horan. He had been a Repubhcan and 
was with Zaragoza in the battle of Cinco de 
Mayo. His part in the history of the empire 
had not been prominent, but all the efforts of 
his friends, Republicans as well as Imperial- 
ists, were unavailing. He was executed at 
Mixcalco on the 21st of August, 1867. Some 
heavy fines were imposed in certain cases, but 
very little property was confiscated. For a 
time it seemed that peace had at last dawned 
upon the war-rent country, and that the new 
era was to be one of good feeling. Lopez, 
munificently rewarded by the Republican 
government for his treachery, has occupied 
the position in the public regard which the 
traitor always deserves. 

In August, 1867, in calling for a Constitu- 
tional election, a decree was made defining, 
among other things, the status of those who 
had taken part in the late empire. In the 
acrimonious debates which followed upon 
some harsh measures in the decree, the 
Juarez government was sarcastically termed 
the " Government of Paso del Norte." For 
once in the history of Mexico, public sen- 



The Later Presidents. 285 

timent obtained a hearing, and the harsh 
measures were withdrawn from the decree, 
and a general amnesty was proclaimed. 

The election resulted in the choice of 
Don Benito Juarez, for president. He con- 
tinued in the presidency until his death in 
1872, when he was succeeded by Don Se- 
bastian Lerdo de Tejada, who had been his 
faithful Minister of Relations during the 
wanderings of the government, and who suc- 
ceeded to the presidency by virtue of his 
office of president of the Supreme Court 
of Justice. He was confirmed in his of- 
fice by an election in December, 1872, and 
held the presidency until 1876. It was in 
the time-honored way that his presidential 
career was brought to a close. A revolution 
broke out, as a result of which Gen. Juan 
N. Mendez entered upon the presidency 
in December, 1876, and held the office until 
the 5th of May, 1877, when Gen. Porfirio 
Diaz, by right of military strength, became 
president, holding the office until the ist of 
December, 1880, when he was peaceably suc- 
ceeded by his friend Gen. Manuel Gonzales, 
who ;;//^governed Mexico for four years, 
and then gave place, on the ist of December, 
1884, to Gen. Porfirio Diaz. President Diaz 



286 A Short History of Mexico. 

has proved a constitutional reformer. He 
has succeeded in so amending the Consti- 
tution as to be permitted to succeed him- 
self. This he did on the ist of December, 
1888, without conflict with other ambitious 
aspirants to political power. 

A few months after the execution that has 
given to Queretaro greater fame than it has 
acquired by reason of the many other historic 
incidents associated with it, the remains of 
Miramon and Mejia were allowed to be re- 
moved to the capital, and were buried with 
religious ceremonies in the Panteon de San 
Fernando. No visitor in Mexico should 
fail to visit this unique burial-place, within 
the walls of the now ruined Monastery of 
San Fernando. Many of Mexico's most 
illustrious dead He buried there. Many of 
the names mentioned in the history of this 
later period will be found inscribed upon 
tombs there. In the same patio with the 
tomb of Mejia, and only a few yards distant 
from the unpretentious brown-stone monu- 
ment (in an adjoining patio) marking the 
resting-place of Miramon, is the noble mau- 
soleum of Benito Juarez. He rests within 
the shadow of the Church which he perse- 



Pant eon de San Fernando. 287 

cuted, — surrounded by the ruined walls of 
a monastery, dismantled and left to decay in 
obedience to his decree, — and midway be- 
tween the tombs of two gallant men execu- 
ted by his orders. The tomb of Vicente 
Guerrero is in a niche between the two pa- 
tois. Ex-President Comonfort is buried in 
the same enclosure where stand the tombs 
of Juarez and Mejia, and also that of Gen. 
Ignacio Zaragoza, the hero of Cinco de Mayo. 
The remains of two of the distinguished vic- 
tims of the Decree of October 3, 1865, 
Salazar and Arteaga, lie in one of the mural 
tombs, which make this panteon, more than 
any other in the city, an object of interest 
to tourists. In another mural tomb lie the 
bones of Melchor Ocampo, a liberal patriot 
who was hanged by the reactionaries in 1863 
at his hacienda for advocating liberal move- 
ments. The inscription upon the white 
marble slab enclosing his tomb, " Sacrifi- 
cado por la Tirania," might be written over 
many a tomb in Mexico, where the gov- 
ernment has, from the fall of the first em- 
pire in 1824, been imperial in form though 
republican in name, where it has been purely 
personal, founded upon the military strength 
of the chief-magistrate. 



288 A Short History of Mexico, 

It is significant that of all the long list of 
names of those who have occupied the ex- 
alted position of President, at least thirty 
have been accompanied by military titles. 
It is significant of the power that has ruled 
the Mexican Republic. The military title is 
common there, and Mexico has been in the 
nineteenth century as much a nation of war- 
riors as it was in the days of the Aztec Con- 
federacy. The Spaniards coming to these 
shores made a mistake in calling the Tlaca- 
tecuhtli of Tenochtitlan, " an Aztec empe- 
ror," but scarcely a greater mistake than 
the history of the present century makes in 
calling the chief warrior of the nation *' Pres- 
ident of the Mexican Republic." It is only 
within the last few years that Mexico has 
given promise of a better government than 
that to be found under the sword. 



INDEX. 



Abasalo, i49> 151* 
Acamapichtli, 29. 
Acapulco, 132, 158, 159, 196, 239. 
Acoculco (Aculco), 17, 153. 
Aculhuas, 19, 24. 
Acufia, Juan de, 127. 
Acuzamil (Cozumel), 48. 
Aguas Calientes, 156. 
Aguilar, Geronimo de, 48, 49. 

Marcos, 83. 
Ahuizotl, 37. 

Ahumada, Agustin de, 129. 
Alaman, Lucas, 82, 195, 196, 239. 
Alamo, The, 211, 212, 214. 
Albuquerque, 119, 125. 
Aldama, 149, 156, 180. 
AUende, Ignacio, 148-150, 154, 156, 

157, 180. 
Almanza, Martin Ennques de, 104, 

107. 
Almonte, Juan N., 260. 
Alvarado, Pedro de, 48, 56, 57, 62, 

65, 69. 
Alvarez, Juan, 239, 242. 
Amecameca (Amequamecan), 14, 

S3- 
Ampudia, Pedro, 226, 227. 
Anaya, Pedro Maria, 223, 224, 231, 

232. 
Anahuac, 160. 
Anson, Admiral, 129. 
Apodaca, Juan Ruiz de, 164, 165, 

172, 202, 203. 
Apostles of Mexico, Twelve, 87, 90. 
Archbishop, Archbishopric, 84, 96, 

107, 113, 114, 120-122, 127, 128, 

131, 133, 135. 146, 147) 260. 
Arista, Mariano, 226, 237. 
Armendariz, Lope Diaz de, 117. 
Art in New Spam, 138 et seq, 
Atzcapotzalco, 19, 23, 27, 33, 64, 

III. 
Audience, Royal, 83, 84, 91, 102, 

107, 113, 114, 128, 130, 134, 13s, 

144, 147- 



Augustinians, 90. 
Austin, Moses, 202. 

Stephen, 203, 204, 206, 209, 
210, 
Auto de fd, 106, 118, 124, 144, 163. 
Axayacatl, 35, 54" 
Ayotla, 239, 246. 

Plan de, 242. 
Ayuntamiento, 50, 82. 
Azanza, Miguel Jose de, I4i« 
Aztec Confederacy, 33. 
Aztlan, 15. 

Barragan, Miguel, 200, 207, 209. 
Bazaine, Marshal, 262, 268, 270, 

273. 
Benevente, Fray Torribio, 90. 
Bemal Diaz, 74. 
Berriozabal, Felix, 259. 
Bishop, Bishopric, 84, 96, 100, 117- 

119, 121, 123, 125, 152, 154, 17s, 

177, 260. 
Bocenegra, Jos^ Maria de, 195. 
Book, first in New World, 97. 
Boot, Adrian, 113, 115. 
Boulvon, Count Raousset de, 240. 
Bravo, Nicolas, 161, 162, 165, 173, 

181, 191, 220, 222. 
Brigantines, 67 et seq. 
Bucareli y Ursua, Antonio Maria 

de, 132-134. 
Buena Vista, Battle of, 227. 
Bustamente, Anastasio, 193-197, 

205, 217, 220, 225. 

Cabrera, Diego Lopez Pacheco, 

117. 
Cacamatzm, 67. 
California, 80, 109, 121, 228, 
Calendar Stone, r37. 
Calleja del Rey, Felix Maria, 154, 

i5S» 159. 161, 164. 
Calpulalpam, 247, 251. 
Calzadas (see also Causeways), 110, 

128, 134. 



19 



290 



Index. 



Canalize, Valentin, 2-20, 221, 230. 

Carlota, 262-265, 272, 273, 279. 

Carrera, Martin, 241. 

Casas Grandes, 15. 

Catani, Pedro, 147. 

Cathedral, 77, 86, 106, 116, 120, 157, 

176, 184, 264. 
Causeways (see also Calzadas), 42, 

435 76, 77. 9i> IIO-. 
Ceballos, Juan Bautista, 238. 
Cebrian y Agustin, Pedro, 128. 
Celaya, 143, 151, 178. 
Cempoalla, 19, 51, 57. 
Central America, 79, 199. 
Cerda, Juan, Leiva, 119. 
Cerda, Tomas Antonio, 121. 
Cerro de las Campanas, 277, 279. 
Cerro Gordo, 223, 230. 
Chalchihuecan, 49. 
Chalco, Chalcas, 19, 34, 35, 66, 

231. 
Chapultepec, 17, 26, 27, 31, 33, 38, 

44, 70, no, III, 121, 132, 134, 

232, 233, 264, 273. 
Chichimecas, 14, 17, 22, 102. 
Chief-of-Men, 29 et seq. 
Chihuahua, 156, 229, 269. 
Chimalpopoca, 32. 
Chinampas, Chinampenecas, 29, 34, 

44. 
Cholula, Cholulans, Cholultecas, 

14, 52, 53) 67, 80. 
Churubusco, 17, 231, 232, 238. 
Cinco de Mayo, Battle of, 259, 284, 

287. 
Citlahuatzin, 59, 68. 
Civilization, Aztec, 46. 
Coahuila, 156, 205, 206. 
Coatapantli, 43. 
Colon, Pedro Nuno, 120. 
Colotlan, 51. 
Comonfort, Ignacio, 239, 242-247, 

250, 251, 269, 287. 
Confederacy, Aztec, 33. 
Congress, 160, 162, 164, 178-184, 

193, 196, 200, 208, 220, 222-224, 

233. 237, 238, 244, 245. 
Conquest of Mexico, 41, 47 et seq. 
Contreras, Pedro Moya de, 105, 

107. 
Cordoba, 174. 

Treaty of, 174, 177, 178, 

181. 
Diego Fernandez de, 113. 
Cordova, Hernando de, 40. ^ 

Corro, Jos^ Justo, 200, 217. 
Cortes, Hernando, 47 et seq. 
Martin, 102, 103. 



Cos, Martin, 210, 215. 
Cosmographer of New Spain, 129. 
Council of Chiefs, 30. 
Coyoacan (Cuyuacan), 43, 69, 73, 

81, 231, 
Cozumel (Acuzamil), 48. 
Croix, Carlos de, 130, 131. 
Cuauhtemoc, 68, 70, 72, 74, 79, 80. 
Cuauhtitlan, 65. 
Cuautla, 158, 159. 
Cuernavaca, 31, 80, 130, 200, 242. 
Cueva, Francisco Fernandez de la, 

119. 
Culhuas, Culhuacan, Culhuacas, 15, 

17, 24. 
Cuyuacan (see Coyoacan). 

Diaz, Porfirio, 259, 282, 285. 
Diego, Juan, 92-94. 
Dolores, 148-150. 

Grito de, 151. 
Dominicans, 90, 100, 105, 106, 191. 
Durango, 102. 

EcHEVERRiA, Javicr, 220. 
Emancipation of slaves, loi. 
Empire proposed, 219. 
Empresarios, 204, 205. 
Enriquez, Francisco Fernandez de 

la Cueva, 125. 
Escobar, Diego Osorio, 119. 
Escobedo, Mariano, 275, 277. 
Estrada, Alonzo, 84. 

Jose Maria Gutierrez (see 
Gutierrez). 
Executive Power (see Poder 

Ejecutivo). 

Fannin, James W., 213, 214. 
Farias, Valentin Gomez, 198-200, 

206, 217, 223, 227, 228. 
Ferdinand VII., 145, 166, 174. 
Fernandez, Felix (see Guadalupe 

Victoria). 
Figueroa, Pedro de Castro, 128. 
Flores, Manuel Antonio, 135. 
Forey, Gen., 259, 263. 
Franciscans, 87, 89, 90, 92, 104. 
Fredonia, State of, 204. 
Freemasonry, 192. 
Fremont, John C-, 228, 229. 
Fuenleal, Sebastian Rameres de, 

84. 

Galvez, Bernardo, 134. 
Matias de, 134. 
Gante, Pedro, 87, 92, 97. 
Garibay, Pedro, 145, 146. 



hidex. 



291 



Gazette, Mexican, 125. 
Goliad, 207, 208. 
Gonzales, 207, 208. 

Manuel, 285. 
Government of Tenochtitlan, 29. 
Grant, U. S., at San Cosme, 233. 
Grijalva, 40, 
Guadalajara, 83, 98, 123, 129, 154, 

155, 198, 221, 222, 237, 250. 
Guadalupe, Nuestra Senora de, 
Our Lady of, Virgin 
de, 65, 91-94, 127, 
150, 191. 
Church of, 126, 133. 
Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 17, 43, 69, 77, 
91-94, no, 120,233, 238,241,264. 
Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Treaty of, 234. 
Guanajuato, 98, 118, 130, 151, 153, 

i54» 156,. 167, 168, 199, 236. 
Guatemotzin (see Cuauhtemoc). 
Guemes, Juan Francisco de, 129. 
Guerrero, Vicente, 161, 165, 169- 

172, 181, 287. 
Gutierrez de Estrada, Josd Maria, 

219, 260. 
Guzman, Luis Enriques de, 119. 
Nuiio de, 84, 98. 

Hard, Alonso Nunez de, 135. 
Herrera, Jose Joaquin de, 221, 224, 

236, 237. 
Hibueras, 79. 
Hidalgo, Miguel, 148-158, 160, 180, 

199. 
Holguin, Garcia de, 71. 
Holy Office (see Inquisition). 
Hospital, Foundling, 133. 

Lying-in, 265. 
Houston, Sam, 209, 214, 215. 
Huehuetoca, 109. 
Huexotzinco, 89. 
Huitzilihuitl, 31. 
Huitzilopocho, 17, 43. 
Huitzilopochtli, 15, 18. 
Humboldt, Baron von, 144. 

IcoATZiN (Izcohualt), 32. 
Independencia, calle de, 89. 
Inquisition, 104-106, 118, 152, 162, 

163. 
Iturbide, Agustin de, 162, 170-184, 
261. 

Agustin de, 2d, 265. 

Hotel, 179. 
Iturrigaray, Jos6 de, 143-145. 
Ixtacalco, 17, 44. 

Ixtapalapan (Iztapalapan), 44, 53. 
Ixtlilxochitl, 67, 70. 



Izcohualt (Icoatzin), 32. 
Iztapalapan (Ixtapalapan), 44, 53. 

Jalapa, si, 143, 194, 198, 229,230. 

Plan de, 195. 
Jalisco, 48, 80, 89, 238. 
Jesuits, 106, 131. 
Joinville, Prince de, 218. 
Juarez, Benito, 241, 244, 245, 248- 

259, 266, 269, 277, 278, 281, 283- 

287. 

Kearney, Stephen, 229. 

Languages, 17, 19, 28, 49, 68, 131. 
La Reforma, 248-253. 
La Salle, 201. 

Las Casas, Bartolomeo de, 99-101. 
Laurencez, Gen., 258. 
Leon, Luis Ponce de, 83. 
Velasquez de, 56. _ 
Lerclo de Tejada, Sebastian, 285. 
Lizana, Francisco Javier, 146, 147. 
Lombardini, Manuel Maria, 233, 

238. 
Lopez, Miguel, 276, 284. 
Lorenzana, Abp., 131, 133. 

Malintzin (see Marina). 
Marina, La, 48, 49, 73, 80, io2. 
Marquez, Gen., 259, 274, 275, 281- 

283. 
Marquina, Felix Berenguerde, 143. 
Martinez, Eurico, 112, 113, 115, 

116. 
Matamoras, Mariano, 158, 161, 180. 
Maximilian, Ferdinand, 220, 260- 

281. 
Maya, 14, 28. 
Mayorga, Martin, 133. 
Medical School, 105. 
Mejia, Jose Antonio, 219. 

Tomas, 243, 275-279, 286, 
287. 
Mendez, Juan N.', 285, 
Mendoza, Antonio de, 97-101. 
Diego CarriUo, 114. 
Juan de, no, in. 
Lorenzo Juarez de, 107. 
Mexicalcingo, 17, 44. 
Mexico-Tenochtitlan, 39. 
Mextli, 18. 
Michoacan (Micbuacan), 27, 28, 37, 

40, 84, 89, 118, i23,_ 125, 152, 270. 
Mina, Francisco Javier, 166-168. 
Mineria, 133, 138. 
Miramar, 262, 263, 273. 

Treaty of, 263, 272. 



292 



Index, 



Miramon, Miguel, 243, 246-248, 

251, 259, 274, 27s, 277-280, 286. 
Mitia, 14- 

Molino del Rey, 232. 
Monclova, 121, 156. 
Monroe Doctrine, 185-187, 258, 

271. 
Monserrat, Joaquin de, 130. 
Montanes, Juan de Ortega, 123, 

125. 
Monte de las Cruces, 152, 153. 

de Piedad, 78, 102, 117, 132. 
Monterey, 109, 226, 227. 
Montufar, Alonso de, 85, note, 107. 
Morelia, 98, 152, 170. 
Morelos, Jos6 Maria, 157-164, 169, 

176, 180. 
Moteczuma I., 35. 

n., 39, S3. S5» 59, 60, 
64, 67, 69, 72, 78, 80, 
124. 
Motolinia, go, 91. 
Muciga y Osorio, Juan, 238. 
Muzquiz, Melchor, 197. 

Nacogdoches, 205. 

Nahuatl, Nahuatlacas, 28, 29, 49, 

68. 
Napoleon III., 255, 258, 260, 262, 

263, 265, 267, 271-273. 
Narvaez, Panfilo de, 57, 58, 68. 
National Museum, 95, 97, 108, 241. 

Palace, 78, 176, 233. 
New Mexico, 108, 109, 119, 123, 

228. 
Noche Triste, 62, 63, 68. 
Nochistongo, 144. 
Norofia, Fernando Alencastre, 126. 
Novella, Francisco, 173, 

Oaxaca, 159, 249, 250. 

Ocampo, Melchor, 287. 

O'Donoju, Juan, 173, 174, 176-178. 

O'Horan, Tomas, 284. 

Olid, 65, 69, 79. 

Olmedo, Father, 86. 

Orizaba, 159, 230, 238, 257, 259, 

273- 
Ortega, Jesus Gonzales, 247, 251. 
Othomi, Otomites, 27, 28. 
Otoncalpolco, 64, 65. 
Otumba, Otumpan, 65, 66. 

Pacheco, Rodrigo, 114. 

de Padilla, Juan Vicente, 
135 et seq. 
Palafox, Juan de, 117, 118. 
Palo Alto, 226. 



Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano, 221- 

223, 236. 
Paseo de la Reforma, 69, 139, 140, 

253, 264. 
Paso del Norte, 109, 269, 284. 
Patio Process, loi. 
Patzcuaro, 27, 152. 
Pavon, Jose Ignacio, 246, 247. 
Pedraza, Manuel Gomez, 191, 193, 

198. 
Pena y Pena, Manuel de la, 224. 
Penon Viejo, 71. 
Peralta, Gaston de, 103. 
Perote, 221, 230. 
Peter Martyr, 44. 

Pezuela, Manuel Robles, 246, 248. 
Pie Claim, 218. 
Pillow, Gen., 233. 
Pius IX., Pope, 263, 272. 
Plan de Casa Mata, 180. 

de Iguala, 172, 174, 177, 178, 

180, 181, 261, 265. 
de Navidad, 246. 
Poder Ejecutivo, 181, 184. 
Polkos, 228. 
Popotla, 63. 
Puebla, 90, 117, 119, 172, 175, 177, 

199, 221,224, 230, 233, 243, 259, 

260, 263. 
Puente de Calderon, 155, 157. 

Nacional, 143, 230. 
Pulque, 21. 

Qquiches, 14, 28. 

Quauhnahuac (see also Cuema- 

vaca), 31, 80. 
Quemada, 16. 
Queretaro, 102, 126, 149, 153, 164, 

168, 172, 224, 233, 243, 275, 276, 

281, 282. 
Quitman, Gen., 233. 

Rayon, Ignacio, it;7, 160, 161, 163. 
Remedies, Our Lady of the, 64, 65, 

94- . 
Remedios, Nuestra Senora de los, 

64, 65, 94. 
Repartimientos, 99, 100. 
Resaca de la Palma. 226. 
Rivera, Payo Enriques de, 120. 
Royal Audience (see Audience). 

Sacrificial Stone, 137. 
Salas, Mariano, 222, 260. 
San Andres, 61, 135, 280. 
San Antonio, Texas, 127, 210, 211, 

215. 
San Carlos Academy, 99, 138, 252. 



Index, 



293 



San Cosme, 63, 233. 
Sandoval, Gonsalo, 84. 

Gonsalvo de, 56, 65, 69. 
San Fernando, Church, 128. 

Panteon, 197, 286, 

287. 
Plaza, 62, 197. 
San Hipolito, 61, 71. 
San Jacinto, 215. 

San Juan de Ulua, 47, 49, 128, 145, 
192, 229. 
Teotihuacan, 14. 
San Miguel AUende, 148-150. 
Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez de, 
173, 180, 193, 194, 197-200, 207, 
209-212, 214, 215, 218-221, 223- 
225, 227, 229-231, 233. 
Santa Fe, log. 
Santa Hermandad, 102, 105. 
Santa Teresa, 54, 61. 
Santiago-Tlatelolco, 70, 92, 97, no, 

122, 2S2, 284. 
Scott, Gen. Winfield, 223, 228-230, 

233- 
Sierra Madre, proposed Republic 

of, 219. 
Silva, Gaspar de la Cerda Sandoval, 

122. 
Silver Arm, Man with the, 121. 
Sloat, Commodore, 228. 
Socochima, 51. 

Soto la Marina, 166, 167, 183. 
Sotomayor, Baltasar de Zuiiiga, 
126. 
Garcia Sarmiento, 118. 
Spanish Succession, 124. 

Writers, 24, 45, 67. 
Statue, Carlos IV., 139. 
Stockton, Commodore, 228, 229. 

Tabasco, Tabascans, 48, 79. 
Tacuba, 33, 43, 61-63, 116. 
Tacubaya, no, 116, 128, 134, 245. 

Plan de, 220. 
Talamanca, Miguel la Grua, 137 

et seq. 
Tampico, 194, 229. 
Tarascan, Tarascos, 27, 28, 84. 
Tavlor, Gen. Zachary, 222, 225- 

228. 
Tecpanecas, 19, 23, 26, 31-33. 
Tecpanes, 45, 54, 56, 58-60, 78. 
Tehuacan, 159, 162, 233. 
Tenayucan, 23, 34, 67. 
Tenochtitlan, 18 ei seq. 
Teocallis, 43, 45, 57, 64, 77, 86, 92, 

106. 
Tepeyacac, 17, 43, 69, 91. 



Texas, 121, 123, 127, 167, 200-216, 

225. 
Texcoco, Texcocans, 17-19, 23, 67, 

68, 71, 81,87,89,98. 
Texmalaca, 162. 
Tezoyucan, 17. 
Three Guaranties, 175. 
Tizoc, 37. 

Tlaca-tecuhtli, 29 et seq,, 288. 
Tlacopan, 33, 34, 38, 44, 61, 62, 69. 
Tiatelolco, 26, 36, 44, 45, 70, 71, 

76, 88, 92, 97, no, 122. 
Tlaxcala, Tlaxcalans, 39, 51-53, 

58, 60, 62, 66, 68, 78, 89, 90, 

123. 
Tlaxpana, 63, in, 235. 
Toledo, Sebastian de, 119. 
ToUan, Tollantcingo, 20. 
Tolpetas, 17. 
Tolsa, Manuel, 138, 139. 
Toltecs, 14, 20, 23. 
Toluca, 16, 152, 224. 
Torres, Marcos Lopez de, 118. 
Travis, W. B., 211, 212, 214. 
Treaty of London, 255. 
Tres Garantias, 175. 
Trist, Nicholas P., 234. 
Trujillo, Torcuato, 153. 
Tula, Tulancingo, 16, 20, 21, 23. 
Twiggs, Gen., 230-232. 
Tzintzuntzan, 27. 

University of Mexico, 102, 123, 
199. 

Valencia, Fray Martin de, 87. 
Valladares, Jose Sarmiento, 124. 
Valladolid, 98, 115, 151, 152, 154, 
i55j 157. 161, 170, 172. (See also 
Morelia). 
Vega, Francisco Cajigal de la, 130. 
Melchor Porto carrera Laso 

de la, 121. 
Romulo Diaz de la, 241, 242. 
Salvador de la, 140. 
Velasco, Luis de, I., loi, 102. 

Luis de, IL, 108, 109, in, 

112. 
Fort, 205. 
Venegas, Francisco Javier, 147, 

153, 160. 
Vera Cruz, 47, 49, 50, 66, 82, 91, 
109, 120, 121, 131, 143, i73> 182, 
192, 197, 198, 218, 229, 230, 240, 
241, 247, 250, 251, 254, 256, 257, 
263. 273, 274, 2S0, 281, 283. 
Victoria, Guadalupe, 161, 181, 190- 
193- 



294 



Index. 



Vidaurri, Santiago, 281-283. 
Vizarrou, Juaii Antonio de, 127, 
128. 

Worth, Gen., 227, 230, 231. 

Xalatzinco, 51. 

Xicotencatl, 52. 

Xochimilco, Xochimilcas, 17, 19, 

34, 35- 
Xoloc, 43, 77- 

Yermo, Gabriel, 145. 
Yturbide, see Iturbide. 



Zacatecas, 16, 89, 98, 129, 154, 

156, 157, 199- 
Zapotecas, 28, 249. 
Zaragoza, Ignacio, 259, 284, 287. 
Zempoala, 51. (See also Cempo- 

alla). 
Zuloaga, Felix, 245-248, 250, 259. 
Zumarraga, Juan de, 78, 84, 85, 

note, 118. 
Zumpango, 16,31, 65, 111-113, 115. 
Zuniga, Alvaro Manrique de, 108. 
Gaspar de, 109, no. 



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tion of Newspaper and Periodical Verse. 1870 to 
1885. By Slason Thompson. Crown 8vo, 459 pages, 
cloth, gilt top. Price, ^2.00. 

In half calf or half morocco, $4.00. 



The publishers have done well in issuing this volume in a 
style of literary and artistic excellence, such as is given to the 
works of the poets of name and fame, because the contents richly 
entitle it to such distinction. — Home Jourtial, Boston. 

The high poetic character of these poems, as a whole, is sur- 
prising. As a unit, the collection makes an impression which 
even a genius of the highest order would not be adequate to pro- 
duce. . . . Measured by poetic richness, variety, and merit of 
the selections contained, the collection is a rarely good one 
flavored with the freshness and aroma of the present time. — 
Independent, New York. 

Mr. Thompson winnowed out the chaff from the heap, and 
has given us the golden grain in this volume. Many old news- 
paper favorites will be recognized in this collection, —many of 
those song-waifs which have been drifting up and down the 
newspaper world for years, and which nobody owns but every- 
body loves We are glad for ourselves that some one has been 
kind and tender-hearted enough to take in these fugitive chil- 
dren of the Muses and give them a safe and permanent home. 
The selection has been made with rare taste and discrimination, 
and the result is a delightful volume. — Observer, New York. 



Sold by all booksellers, or mailed on receift of f rice, by 

A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers, 

Cor. Wabash Ave. and Madison St., Chicago. 



WHIST SCORES AND CARD- 
TABLE TALK. With a Bibliography of 
Whist. By Rudolf H. Rheinhardt. 

Illustrated, i2mo, 310 pages, gilt top, $1.00. 
♦— 

Every whist-player, we think, will find this volume a treasure- 
house of information and a source of pleasure. It gives us the 
literature of cards, and a thoroughly interesting literature it is. 
. . . The author is a bright writer, and his book is sure to prove 
a congenial as well as useful whist-table companion. — The Ex- 
fress, Buffalo. 

It is a compendium of interesting facts in regard to the game 
of whist, including those relative to the origin, varieties, and 
manufacture of cards, their peculiarities in different countries, 
etiquette of the card-table, tricks with cards, fortune-telling, 
quotations from famous people touching cards and gaming, and 
in fact almost everything that can be thought of in connection 
with the subject. — The Transcript^ Boston. 

Mr. Rheinhardt has not only made a pretty book, but also 
done a new thing. He has prepared a whist score-book to con- 
tain the record of the play during two hundred and fifty even- 
ings, allowing ample space for all important data and for explan- 
atory remarks. This is welcome and useful, but it is not the 
most interesting part of the book. These scores are introduced 
by a brief bibliography of cards and gaming, and by a more 
elaborate bibliography of whist. The latter is much the fullest 
that we have seen ; and although the former might be amplified 
to advantage, — especially by the inclusion of many more 
French works, — it contains nearly all the chief books. Then, 
on the back of the whist scores, which fill only the even pages, 
is an excellent collection oiana and anecdotes about playing cards 
and card-playing, gathered from the best sources and carefully 
credited. — The Nation, New York. 
• 

Sold by all booksellers., or mailed on receipt of price., by 

A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers, 

Cor. Wabash Ave. and Madison St., Chicago. 



FAMILIAR TALKS ON ENGLISH 
LITERATURE. A Manual embracing the Great 
Epochs of English Literature, from the English conquest 
of Britain, 449, to the death of Walter Scott, 1832. By 
Abby Sage Richardson. Fourth edition, revised. 
Price ^1.50. 

The Boston Transcript says : 

"The work shows thorough study and excellent judgment, 
and we can warmly recommend it to schools and private classes 
for reading as an admirable text-book." 

The New York Evening' Mail says: 

"What the author proposed to do was to convey to her read- 
ers a clear idea of the variety, extent, and richness of English 
literature. . . . She has done just what she intended to do, and 
done it well." 

The New York Nation says: 
" It is refreshing to find a book designed for young readers 
which seeks to give only what will accomplish the real aim of 
the study ; namely, to excite an interest in English literature, 
cultivate a taste for what is best in it, and thus lay a foundation 
on which they can build after reading." 

Prof. Moses Coit Tyler says : 
"I have had real satisfaction in looking over the book. There 
are some opinions with which I do not agree ; but the main thing 
about the book is a good thing ; namely, its hearty, wholesome 
love of English literature, and the honest, unpretending, but 
genial and conversational, manner in which that love is uttered. 
It is a charming book to read, and it will breed in its readers the 
appetite to read English literature for themselves." 
• 

Sold by all booksellers, or mailed^ post-paid^ on receipt 
9f price, by 

A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers, 

Cor. Wabash Ave. and Madison St., Chicago- 




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